The “AAL Limassol”, the first Super B newbuilding of the heavy-lift shipping company AAL, has successfully completed its maiden voyage from Asia to Europe.
According to the shipping company, which is part of the Schoeller Group, 89,000 tons of multipurpose cargo were safely delivered on this non-stop voyage – a first and a record. “The Super B class ships are everything we hoped for – and more,” says Christophe Grammare, Managing Director at AAL Shipping.
The “AAL Hamburg” is the second newbuild to enter service, the “AAL Houston” will follow shortly and then five more of these ships.
“AAL Limassol” loads various types of heavy cargo
The “AAL Limassol” was christened in April at the CSSC Huangpu Wenchong shipyard in Guangzhou (China). On her maiden voyage, she transported a dismantled crane, transformers, modules, trucks, rotor houses and two 135 m long inland waterway hulls weighing 1,650 tons and 1,425 tons. In India, 15 onshore wind turbine blades, each weighing 30.6 tons, were stowed on deck in the port of Tuticorin.
The ship sailed around the Cape of Good Hope through the English Channel to Klaipeda, the first European port of call. The remaining cargo was then unloaded in Rotterdam, Antwerp and Cuxhaven.
The new heavy lifters are 179.9 m long, 30 m wide and have a ballast draught of 6.5 m. Each ship can carry up to 80,000 tons of general cargo. The weather deck offers 4,500 square meters of open cargo space, with extendable pontoons on the starboard side of the vessel to further increase deck storage space. Three heavy-duty cranes mounted on the port side, each with a capacity of 350 tons and a tandem lifting capacity of 700 tons and a reach of 35.7 m, will enable loading of the fore and aft deck to optimise stowage space and stowage time.
