On October 8, the port and shipping sector surged sharply, with leading stock COSCO SHIP ENGY (ASX: 01138) hitting the daily limit within one minute after the market opened, reaching 22.62 yuan as of press time, with buy orders exceeding 650,000 lots at the limit-up price and a latest market value of 123.8 billion yuan.

Fellow leading stock China Merchants Energy Shipping (SSE: 601872) also surged directly to the daily limit, briefly opening the limit during trading, and as of press time had sealed the limit again at 22.17 yuan, with turnover nearing 2 billion yuan and a latest market value of 179 billion yuan.

On the evening of September 30, China Merchants Energy Shipping announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Hong Kong Minghua Shipping Co., Ltd. had recently signed a 25-year long-term transportation agreement with a client for six very large ore carriers (VLOC).

The announcement showed that the total contract value of this long-term transportation agreement is expected to be no less than US$2.8 billion.

The company's board of directors believes that the 25-year long-term transportation agreement signed by Hong Kong Minghua is the first step for the company to deeply participate in the Simandou project, laying a solid foundation for both parties to further establish close collaboration and expand mutually beneficial long-term cooperation.