Project heavy lift carrier, AAL Shipping, has expanded its order of Super B-Class vessels with two new 32,000 dwt units. Counting the recently delivered AAL Limassol, the order at CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Company in the Chinese province of Guangdong now amounts to eight vessels and 256,000 dwt.

The order was signed by AAL and Schoeller Holdings’ Founder & Chairman, Heinrich Schoeller, at the recent naming ceremony of m/v ‘AAL Limassol at the shipyard.

The two additional vessels, to be named the AAL Newcastle and AAL Mumbai will each feature an increased maximum heavy lift capability of 800 tonnes, compared to the rest of the Super B-Class fleet which can each lift a maximum 700 tonnes. These vessels will bring AAL’s total fleet tonnage to 831,800 DWT.

“This is a strategic move to strengthen our global industrial projects foothold and boost our capacity and service levels on major shipping lanes connecting Oceania, Asia, Middle East, Europe, and the Americas,” Kyriacos Panayides, CEO of AAL said at a media event in Rotterdam.

“A huge investment of this kind for our third-generation newbuilding plan is not something we take lightly, as it was made with our project customer cargo needs on top of mind and combining 30 years of experience in this challenging and demanding industry we serve – a true leap into the future. We are incredibly proud of all the work that has gone into the innovative design and development of this fleet,” he added.

Record-breaking Super B-Class heavy lifter

According to Christophe Grammare, Managing Director of AAL, the company’s first Super B-Class vessel, the AAL Limassol, broke all voyage performance records for the company with over 77,000 freight tonnes of cargo booked onto its planned voyage from Asia to Europe.

“A broad mix of project heavy lift and general cargo includes two 135-metre-long barges – 1,650 and 1,425 tonnes respectively – fifteen 80.5-metre-long wind blades, modules, trucks, transformers, a dismantled crane and much more besides. This demonstrates the objective of achieving greater economies of scale for our shippers as compared to most other MPVs,” Grammare said.

“Looking into the future, the trend in industrial project cargo is towards fabricating larger and more complex components, and we need to be ahead of that curve. The combination of these new ships’ unique design, cargo handling technologies and heavy lift capabilities – which on the two additional vessels has increased to 800 tonnes maximum lift – allows them to also accommodate the far bigger and heavier cargoes of tomorrow, ones that until now may have been out of our reach,” concluded Grammare.