Reversing out of its commitment to accident-prone converted tankers has proved costly for Brazilian mining giant Vale.
Discontinuation of the chartering of tankers converted into ore carriers last year cost it $128m in payouts and penalties for early terminations of charters and amendments to contracts.
Vale disclosed the accounting in its recently released 2020 annual report.
The world fleet of VLOCs converted from tankers — largely by or at the behest of Vale — had long been the subject of controversy before the miner bit the bullet last year and took the expensive measure of terminating its long-term contracts.
