Berge Stahl

Berge Stahl spent twenty-five years as the largest bulk carrier in the world doing essentially one thing: hauling 350,000-tonne loads of iron ore from Brazil to Europe's blast furnaces, back and forth, like a planetary conveyor belt with a crew of thirty-three.

Fully laden she drew 23 metres, which meant exactly two ports on Earth could receive her: Ponta da Madeira in Brazil, where the ore was loaded, and Rotterdam's Maasvlakte, where it was discharged — and Rotterdam only at high tide, with centimetres under the keel. Her route was not a choice but a definition.

Built by Hyundai in 1986 for Norway's Bergesen group, she held her title until Vale's purpose-built Valemax fleet arrived in 2011, and was finally retired in 2021 after three and a half decades on the same run — one of the longest single-trade careers of any giant on this site.