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Vale temporarily shuts down Malaysia distribution centre after fire

A fire broke out at one transfer house at Brazilian miner Vale’s distribution centre in Malaysia on Friday, resulting in the temporary shutdown of the facility.

Vale said the fire caused only material damages and operations are likely to resume in 10 to 15 days.

“Vale expects reduced impact on its shipments, since a 10-day preventive maintenance was already scheduled at the terminal during the same period,” the company said in a release.

Vale Malaysian distribution centre started operations in 2014 and it was built to bridge the distance between the company’s mine in Carajas, Brazil and consumer markets in Asia. The facility has a capacity of 30m dwt of iron ore per year.

On Friday, Vale also revealed that eight of its employees were arrested in Brazil as part of the ongoing investigation into the deadly dam collapse on Janaury 25, which likely killed more than 300 people.

In a separate incident earlier this month, Value’s terminal at the Tubarão complex in Vitoria, Espirito Santo was also closed by authorities for polluting the sea with mining residues.

Jason Jiang

Jason is one of the most prolific writers on the diverse China shipping & logistics industry and his access to the major maritime players with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives. Having been working at Asia Shipping Media since inception, Jason is the chief correspondent of Splash and associate editor of Maritime CEO magazine. Previously he had written for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week.
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