Until the delivery of MS Vale Brasil in 2011 she was the longest and largest iron ore carrier in the world.

[1] Her MAN B&W 7L90MCE diesel engine drove a single 9 m (30 ft) propeller giving a top speed of 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph).

[1] Because of its massive size, Berge Stahl could originally only tie up, fully loaded, at two ports in the world, hauling ore from the Terminal Marítimo de Ponta da Madeira in Brazil to the Europoort near Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

[7] On the return voyage to Rotterdam, the ship picked up a partial load of ore in Dampier, Western Australia, and Saldanha Bay in South Africa (where the maximum draft permitted is 21 m).

She was then headed for dry dock, where she was refitted before commencing a new contract transporting iron ore from the Port of Tubarão in Brazil to Sohar, Oman.