In early December, on her maiden voyage, the VLOC (Very Large Ore Carrier) Vale Beijing suffered structural cracking while loading cargo in northeast Brasil.  As reported by Maritime Propulsion , the extent of the damage was significant – the hull plating was found to have cracked in the vicinity of a water ballast tank, and from there water was making its way into a cargo hold. Vale Beijing is classed by DNV whose preliminary inspection reportedly described (in addition to the crack in outer hull plating) fairly substantial internal damage to web frames and longitudinals in the vicinity of the water ballast tank. 

Thanks to Dirk Bal for passing along a condition update and photos of the ship at anchor in the outer roads of Sao Luis,   The Vale Beijing is one of 35 Valemax class ore carriers delivered or under construction and are the largest ore carriers ever built.

The tanker alongside the Vale Beijing is the 423′ (129m) long Sea Emperor, which will unload approximately 5,000 tonnes of bunker oil from the VLOC.  A temporary conveyor system has been installed on the deck of the Vale Beijing to allow transferring iron ore cargo from No 7 hold into No 3 and No 5 holds. Once the transfer of cargo and fuel is completed and temporary repairs are made, it has been reported that the ship will then move to a drydock, though details have not yet been announced.