AAL Shipping has transported eight juice tanks on a single sailing from Taicang port in China to Setúbal in Portugal onboard its heavy lift vessel AAL Kobe.
The tanks were moved to Lisnave Shipyard where they will be installed aboard a bulk carrier, transforming it into a fruit juice tanker. They weighed 150 tonnes and measured 12 m x 12 m x 16.5 m.
Yahaya Sanusi, deputy head of transport engineering at AAL, said: “We initially had to ensure that a specially designed lifting beam could in fact be aligned, connected, and lifted without mechanical support from the weather deck of the AAL Kobe to the tanks’ trunnions located at 12 m height. Thanks to both the vessel’s outstanding crane height and tailormade lifting beam, we were able to stow the units successfully on deck.
“The goalposts then changed midway through the project, when our initial discharge to quayside plan was replaced by a more ambitious proposal, involving the discharge of the heavy lift units directly to the soon-to-be-converted bulk carrier.
“After extensive modelling and risk assessment by our engineering team, the original plan was reinstated. We also had to overcome a very shallow vessel draft and other operational restrictions at port of discharge using extensive modelling, bathymetric surveys, and tides, mooring, and risk analyses. This provided the data and operational transparency required for AAL to handle the tanks safely using only the ship cranes. All plans were carefully screened and approved by not only the local port authority, but also insurers and other project stakeholders.”
