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Vale Brasil

Vale (later Chinese owners) · Bulk · In service (renamed Ore Brasil, 2015) · built by Hanwha Ocean (DSME)

Vale Brasil opened the Valemax era in 2011: the largest bulk carriers ever built, ordered by a mining company to bend the economics of the Brazil–China ore run.

Length overall362 m
Beam65 m
Deadweight402,347 t
Speed15 kn
Delivered2011
Draft23 m
Our numbers

Derived metrics

Computed by ships.fyi from the core specification — see how we calculate these.

Length-to-beam ratio#43 of 45
5.57 length overall ÷ beam
Sense of scale

How big is it, really?

The Vale Brasil's length overall, against things you already know the size of.

Vale Brasil362 m
Eiffel Tower (height)330 m
Titanic269.06 m
Football pitch105 m
Boeing 747-876.3 m
Blue whale25 m
You (probably)1.75 m

The 747-8 bar is the longest airliner ever built — our sibling site aircraft.fyi measures everything that flies the same way.

One Vale Brasil = 1.35 Titanics · 3.4 football pitches · 14 blue whales · 4.7 Boeing 747-8s laid end to end.

#27 of 45 by length → #7 by deadweight → Run the Canal-Fit Checker →
Specification

The numbers

Length overall362 m
Beam65 m
Deadweight402,347 t
Draft (fully laden)23 m
Delivered2011
RenamedOre Brasil, 2015
FlagSingapore (at delivery)

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Last verified: 2026-07-15 · Spot an error? business@luck.fyi

The story

What makes it different

Vale Brasil was ordered not by a shipping line but by a mine. Brazil's Vale, watching Australian ore reach China in half the sailing time, decided to erase the distance with scale: a fleet of 400,000-tonne carriers — the largest bulk ships ever built — cutting the per-tonne cost of the Brazil–China run by roughly a third.

China's shipowners saw a customer becoming a competitor and lobbied Valemaxes out of Chinese ports for years; the giants discharged at transhipment hubs in Malaysia and the Philippines until 2015, when a deal — Vale selling ships to Chinese owners and chartering them back — opened the ports. Vale Brasil herself was renamed Ore Brasil in the reshuffle.

The class was designed to the 'Chinamax' standard — 360 by 65 metres on a 24-metre draft, the largest dimensions China's ore terminals accept — and it worked: second-generation Valemaxes followed, and the Brazil–China ore bridge they created now moves a measurable share of all the iron on Earth.

The class

The Vale Brasil line

Valemax
Lead of the 400,000-tonne class — dozens of first- and second-generation sisters built in Korea and China, designed to the 'Chinamax' port standard of 360 × 65 × 24 m.
Operators

Who operates the Vale Brasil

All 1 operator of record, verified 2026-07-15. Figures marked ≈ are approximate.

BRVale (later Chinese owners)Ordered by Brazilian miner Vale; later sold into Chinese ownership and chartered back, sailing as Ore Brasil.1
Quick answers

Vale Brasil, asked and answered

How long is the Vale Brasil?
362 m (1,188 ft) length overall — the #27 longest of the 45 ships on ships.fyi, and 3.4 football pitches end to end.
How big is the Vale Brasil compared to the Titanic?
The Vale Brasil is 1.35× the Titanic's length — 362 m against her 269.06 m.
Who operates the Vale Brasil?
Vale (later Chinese owners). Current status: in service (renamed ore brasil, 2015).
Does the Vale Brasil fit through the Panama Canal?
No. At 362 m long, 65 m wide and 23 m of draft, the Vale Brasil exceeds even the Neopanamax gauge (366 × 51.25 × 15.2 m) — run any gauge on the Canal-Fit Checker.
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Sources