It was a mammoth oversight too expensive to ignore.

Vale SA, presumably eager to capture a big chunk of the world's global demand of iron ore from the world's biggest consumer, jumped on the gun sometime in 2008 and worked to build its own fleet of commodity ships that will carry iron ore to China from South America. Its Vale Brasil has been recognized as the biggest commodity ship ever built.

But six months in operation, it has yet to make an actual delivery of iron ore in China. The world's second-largest economy had continuously refused to accept Vale Brasil on apprehensions that Vale SA is out to control the shipments of the steelmaking ingredient.

Vale SA planned the acquisition of the 400,000 deadweight-ton, 19 vessels for $2.3 billion in a bid to reduce dependence on third-party shipping lines and threats in freight costs' adjustments.

But the Chinese hated the idea of being pushed over the control of pricing and delivery of the raw commodity.

"Nobody in China wants Vale SA's fleet to come," Chang Tao, an analyst from China Merchants Securities Co. told Bloomberg. "Not shipping lines, not ship owners, not steelmakers."

"Once Vale SA moves its own iron ore, its control on the supply of iron ore extends into shipping, further diminishing Chinese steelmakers' bargaining power," Huang Wenlong, an analyst with BOC International Holdings Ltd., said. "That is a situation China doesn't want to see."

Vale SA's original plan was to build up a fleet of 35 ships with each as large as the Bank of America Tower in New York. Vale SA is the world's biggest iron ore miner. Some 45 per cent of its sales are shipped to China.

A number of Chinese ship owners have said Vale SA's ships will aggravate global iron ore overcapacity, depress cargo rates and inject industry-wide losses.

The South American miner bought its vessels from China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings Ltd. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Agreements to lease eight from STX Pan Ocean Co. under a $5.8 billion 25-year deal were also contained in a 2009 statement from the Seoul-based shipping line.

The Vale Brasil vessels measure twice as big as the capesize ships generally used to ferry commodities from Brazil to China.

"The most important thing for Vale is to stop building," Zhang Shouguo, Executive Vice Chairman of the China Shipowners Association, said. "The additional capacity will exacerbate the already bad freight market."

The Vale Brasil, which was handed over by Daewoo Shipbuilding in May, was seen this week in the Arabian Sea headed for Oman. Daewoo Shipbuilding had also delivered two other similar-sized vessels, as it works through orders for seven worth a total of $748 million. More deliveries are expected next year and work is progressing as planned, the shipbuilder told Bloomberg.

Vale SA also ordered 12 of the very large ore carriers from Rongsheng Heavy for $1.6 billion in 2008. The Shanghai-based shipbuilder expects to deliver the first this month, adding construction on the other 11 on-order ships had begun, with Vale SA paying in installments as work progresses.

With such a huge number of fleet, Vale SA needs to find alternative viable uses for all its ships as it cannot revoke vessel orders or abandon leasing contract services without paying "very heavy penalties," Ralph Leszczynski, head of research at shipbroker Banchero Costa & Co., said.

"I'm pretty sure that Vale SA has by now realized that they made a big mistake," he said. "I find it really incredible that they committed so much money in this project without first getting written assurances from the Chinese side that they would be able to use the ships."

Meanwhile, the expanding stockpiles of iron ore in the global market will depress rents for capsize ships that haul the commodity.

Iron-ore imports into China, the top global steel producer, plummeted 18 per cent in October to 49.9 million metric tons, according to customs figures sourced by Bloomberg.

"We see further buildup in iron-ore inventory and expect the same to exert downward pressure on the capesize segment in coming months if steel production stays muted, given the headwinds facing steel demand in China," analyst Frode Moerkedal said.