June 30 - AAL has completed the transport of the first ten of 20 automated stacking cranes (ASC) in several shipments from Shanghai to Melbourne, for final delivery to Victoria International Container Terminal.
The cranes - which measured 473 sq m each - were shipped in sets of four on board AAL's 31,000 dwt vessel AAL Hong Kong along the carrier's Asia-East Coast Australia liner service.
AAL claims that this was the first time four ASC units of this size and weight had been loaded and transported on a single vessel.
Four in-house AAL engineers worked in tandem in China and Australia to plan and oversee the operations. Loading and unloading of the huge units involved the simultaneous use of AAL Hong Kong's three on board cranes.
The ten final units will be transported over the next few months, with final dates pending.
Watch a video of the third shipment of cranes below:
See some photos from the loading, transport and unloading operations below:
