Vale informs that it has been sparing no efforts and resources to mitigate any impacts caused by the incident with MV Stellar Banner vessel, owned and operated by Polaris – a South Korean company. Check below the latest information on the main technical and logistics support measures taken by Vale and the relevant maritime and environmental authorities:

• The two Oil Spill Recovery Vessel (OSRV) ships provided by Petrobras to contain any oil leakage set off on Thursday night (Feb 27). They are expected to reach the incident site on Saturday (Feb 29),

• Request Ibama, in a swift manner, for formal authorization to send vessels to the coast of Maranhao,

• Hiring of salvage specialists, in addition to the company contracted by the ship's owner and operator, to support the process of removing oil from the vessel;

• Request adequate containment barriers for open sea if required;

• Provision of helicopters to transport professionals to the incident site.

The vessel is stranded almost 100 kilometers off the coast of Sao Luis (Maranhao), on the way out of the access channel of Ponta da Madeira maritime terminal, from where it left off last Monday (24). The 20 crew members were safely evacuated from the vessel.

As a port operator, Vale reinforces that it is providing all the technical and operational support, and it is actively collaborating with maritime authority.

Vale informs about support measures for stranded vessel in Maranhao

27 February 2020

Vale informs that it spares no efforts and resources to mitigate the possible impacts caused by the incident with MV Stellar Banner vessel, owned and operated by Polaris - a South Korean company.

Among the technical and logistics support measures taken by Vale on Thursday (27), together with the maritime and environmental authorities, are:

• Request Petrobras for Oil Spill Recovery Vessel (OSRV) vessels in order to contain eventual oil leakage; this request that was promptly answered,

• Request Ibama, in a swift manner, for formal authorization to send vessels to the coast of Maranhao,

• Hiring of salvage specialists, in addition to the company contracted by the ship's owner and operator, to expedite the oil removal plan from the vessel,

• Request for offshore ocean buoys, which can preventively serve as adequate containment barriers for open sea, if required;

• Availability of helicopters to send professionals to the incident location.

The vessel is stranded almost 100 kilometers off the coast of Sao Luis (Maranhao), on the way out of the access channel of Ponta da Madeira maritime terminal, from where it left off last Monday (24). The 20 crew members were safely evacuated from the vessel.

As a port operator, Vale reinforces that it is providing all the technical and operational support as well as actively collaborating with maritime authorities.

Source: Vale