With the arrival of AAL Limassol in Cuxhaven, the first Super B-Class vessel in AAL Shipping’s fleet completed a successful maiden voyage to Europe, testing her cargo handling capabilities, including the AAL Eco-Deck retractable deck extension system.
AAL Limassol delivered over 89,000 freight tons of multipurpose cargo on a single sailing. This is not only a record cargo intake for the carrier, but a step forward for project owners needing to move their time-sensitive and valuable cargoes safely and efficiently.
AAL Hamburg is now also in service, and AAL Houston will shortly follow, with another five of these vessels to reinforce the AAAL fleet of capable multipurpose heavy lift tonnage.
The first vessel in the Super B-Class fleet, AAL Limassol, was delivered to AAL Shipping at a formal naming ceremony at the CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard in Guangzhou, China, on 26 April. Shortly thereafter she began her maiden voyage from Asia to Europe, for which a wide variety of heavy lift and project cargo had been booked.
In China, a dismantled crane, transformers, modules, trucks, rotor houses as well as two 135m-long barges, which weighed 1,650 tonnes and 1,425 tonnes, were loaded. Her last call in Asia saw the vessel stop at the Indian port of Tuticorin.
Here, AAL Eco-Deck’ was called into action to facilitate the loading of 15 onshore wind turbine blades, weighing 30.6 tonnes each. This cargo combination meant AAL Limassol’s maiden voyage accommodated 89,000 freight tons of cargo in total.
Once the cargoes were secured, AAL Limassol departed Tuticorin for Europe, transiting the Cape of Good Hope and the English Channel to Klaipeda, her first European port of call, to discharge the wind turbine blades, then AAL Limassol continued her journey to deliver the remaining heavy cargoes in Rotterdam, Antwerp and Cuxhaven.
The AAL Eco-Deck is a revolutionary deck extension system that will be fitted on all eight Super B-Class vessels in the AAL fleet. It increases the clear weather deck space to over 5,000 sq metres, using the vessel’s triple deck panels.
With the deck extended, AAL Limassol was able to stow the 80.5m- ong wind blades alongside the sizeable barges and other cargoes already loaded onboard. They were positioned into place using the ship’s own heavy lift cranes that are capable of lifting a combined 700 tonnes.
Photo by Iys/shipspotting.com
