An aerial view of the "Ore Guangzhou" iron ore transport carrier at Taicang Port, East China's Jiangsu Province. The ultra-large ore carrier set off on its maiden voyage from Taicang on Wednesday. The "Ore Guangzhou," measuring 361.9 meters in length, 65 meters in width and 30.4 meters in height, is the world's largest ore carrier. Its deck is almost the size of three standard football fields, and it boasts a maximum capacity of 400,000 tons. Photo: IC

Iron ore futures closed higher at the Dalian Commodity Exchange on Tuesday.

The most active iron ore contract for September delivery gained 28.50 yuan ($4.10) to close at 890 yuan per ton on Tuesday. It climbed 1 yuan to close at 888 yuan per ton Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the total trading volume of 11 listed iron ore futures contracts on the exchange was 887,359 lots, with a turnover of 75.45 billion yuan.

A month earlier, the Ministry of Transport and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued a document to improve 400,000-ton iron ore port layouts.

The document granted approval to four 400,000-ton-level iron ore ports to begin operations. Two of the ports are located in Rizhao, a city in East China's Shandong Province, one is located in Yantai, a city in Shandong, and the last is in Ningde, a city in South China's Fujian Province.

China previously granted approval for four sea ports to handle 400,000-ton-level iron ore vessels, namely Dalian Port, Tangshan Port, Qingdao Port and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. 11 berths at eight ports are now permitted to unload 400,000-ton iron ore ships in China.

The latest iron ore terminal approvals will help improve regional layouts and balance the development of iron ore transportation in North and South China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a post on its official website Wednesday.

Global Times.