Chinese softening on CVRD VLOCs?

The Brazilian mining company CVRD is said to be contemplating the deployment of a second floating storage vessel somewhere in Asia to counter attempts by the Chinese government to prevent its VLOCs from calling at national ports. In February, it deployed its first storage unit to the Philippines, although South Korea is being considered as the location for the new storage vessel.
In the meantime, negotiations continue with the Chinese authorities to have the ban on the 400,000dwt vessels lifted. CVRD ordered 35 of these vessels to enable it to compete with rivals Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, both of which have a proximity advantage in respect of the Chinese market. Although currently banned by the Chinese government, Chinese steel companies are protesting this decision, pointing out that deployment of these vessels will significantly reduce costs. Nevertheless, it is reported that earlier this year two the vessels were mothballed reflecting a downsizing of demand in China.