Oman Shipping inks $356m loan for ore carriers
Muscat, October 9, 2013
Oman Shipping Company has signed a RO137 million ($355.8 million) loan with two local banks to fund the acquisition of four Very Large Ore Carriers (VLOCs), it said in a statement.
The VLOCs will be chartered to Vale International for a period of 20 years, the statement said, adding Vale had iron ore pelletising facilities in the sultanate with a capacity of 9 million tonnes per year - with exports going to South Asia.
The facility, which has a 12-year lifespan, saw Bank Muscat contribute RO107 million and Bank Dhofar provide RO30 million.
The VLOCs each have a capacity of 400,000 deadweight tonnes (DWT), which make them among the largest dry cargo vessels in the world, the statement added.-Reuters
