OREANDA-NEWS. To enhance the company’s capabilities in generating customized solutions for our clients in Asia by shortening distances, Vale is building an iron ore distribution centre in Lumut, Malaysia. The project, a total investment of U.SUSD 1.4 billion, should receive its first shipment of iron ore from Brazil by the end of this year.

Consisting of a 1.8-km deep water jetty and an onshore stockyard, it is expected that the distribution centre will be fully operational by June 2014. Despite the fact that the site is still a year away from operating at full throttle, the distribution centre is slowly taking shape.

In February, the construction of a 1.8-km long trestle was completed, which will connect our onshore facilities to the export and import wharfs. Transfer platform B, located at the end of the access trestle, is already 50% complete. It is from this same transfer platform in which the iron ore that is unloaded from the Vale vessels will be redirected to the onshore stockyards. The dredging of the access channel, which will receive Vale’s Very Large Ore Carriers, has also been completed.