Vale operates iron ore mines in the Minas Gerais and Carajás area of Brazil, and port facilities at Vitória.
The port facilities initially handled iron ore and pellets, and were upgraded to handle pig iron, manganese, coal, coke, liquid bulk, soya beans, soya meal, break bulk, containers and fertilizers. Tubarão’s harbour accommodates vessels of up to 365,000 tons and is planning to accommodate ULOC vessels of 615,000 tonnes.
The Port Complex is a multimodal part of a Transportation System, which has its backbone in the 905km of railroad (Vitória-Minas Gerais - EFVM Railway).
This system allows the industrial centres and producers of Minas Gerais and other Brazilian states to connect to Vitória’s harbours.
Ausenco was commissioned by Vale (formerly CVRD) in 2005 to undertake a master plan assessment of the Tubarão port handling system to achieve inbound throughputs by 2012.
Our scope of work included rail car unloading, stockpiling, conveyors, stockyard equipment, shiploading, maintenance issues and operational procedures. Spreadsheet models were used to evaluate potential bottlenecks and component capacities.