RIO DE JANEIRO -(Dow Jones)- Brazilian mining giant Vale SA (VALE, VALE5.BR) said it will restart operations at a second ship unloader at its Praia Mole, Vitoria, coal import terminal by the end of February in an effort to guarantee coal supplies to its steelmaking customers following storm damage at the port. Partial operations at the terminal in Espirito Santo state, southeast Brazil, which were paralyzed after wind damage on Nov. 18, had already been resumed on Dec. 18 with one ship unloader, Vale said in a statement. Barges also have been used to unload coal from arriving ships, it said. Coking coal supplies to major Brazilian steelmakers including ArcelorMittal Tubarao, Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA (USIM5.BR) and Gerdau Acominas were affected by the incident at the port, where two ship unloaders collapsed onto the pier. According to London-based specialist publication Metal Bulletin, Gerdau and Usiminas were forced to seek alternative logistic arrangements for their coal supplies, while ArcelorMittal Tubarao cut crude steel output to a rate of about 5 million metric tons a year from the previous 6 million tons, due to difficulties in finding alternative supply routes. Metal Bulletin further stated that two additional ship unloaders at Praia Mole were completely destroyed and may not resume operations until well into 2012. Vale declined to estimate the losses arising from the incident at the port. -By Diana Kinch, Dow Jones Newswires, +55-21-2586-6086; diana.kinch@dowjones.com
