A large shipping company in Shandong Province signed an iron ore transport deal worth over US$500 million on Oct. 31, with the world's top iron ore miner Vale in Qingdao City, a coastal city of the province.

Shandong Shipping Corporation also inked a strategic cooperation agreement with the Brazilian giant.

Under the deals, Vale has thus far delivered four 400,000-tonne ore vessels to the alliance established by the Shandong-based firm.

Shandong Shipping is a large scale state-owned enterprise established in 2010, which has 24 vessels, including those under construction with a total of 4 million dead weight tonnage.