Nippon Yusen K.K., Japan's largest shipping company, says it has agreed to ship Brazilian iron ore to China for the Baoshan Iron & Steel Corp. over a 12-year period.

Shipments will begin in the first half of 2006. By 2008, Nippon Yusen will be using a purpose-built ship with a capacity of 200,000 metric tons to perform the contract.

Nippon Yusen has an existing shipping contract with Baoshan, China's biggest publicly traded steel producer, to ship ore from Western Australia for 10 years.

(CRI August 31, 2004)