First Capesize vessel sails from GAC to transport 173,000 tonnes of bauxite ore

Emirates Global Aluminium, on Thursday, November 10, reportedly announced that the first Capsize vessel sailed from its bauxite mining subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation in the Republic of Guinea.

Operated by shipping line Berge Bulk, the vessel, the MV Berge Rosa, is bound for a customer in India loaded with 173,000 tonnes of bauxite ore. Bauxite exports from GAC began in August, but so far used smaller vessels.

Last year, Emirates Global Aluminium had signed a long-term logistics agreement with Louis Dreyfus Ports Limited and Abu Dhabi Ports Company to develop a barging and transhipment service in deeper waters offshore Kamsar, so to be able to transfer bauxite to Capesize vessels for ocean shipping.

Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “Using Capesize vessels to transport bauxite from GAC lowers shipping costs per tonne and contributes to the global competitiveness of our ore. The Capesize vessel that has sailed today is the first of many over the decades ahead as GAC ramps up, reliably supplying our bauxite customers around the world.”

To bring bauxite to the transhipment location from GAC’s port, high-capacity, special-purpose self-propelled barges are being used. EGA’s transhipment facility in Guinea has a transhipper and a floating crane, positioned at each side of a Capesize vessel.

EGA also uses Capesize vessels to transport bauxite ore, supplied by Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG), to Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi.