The AAL Melbourne recently delivered two jib cranes and their components weighing just over 1,800 mt in total to Dubai. Manufactured in China by global supplier of heavy lifting and handling equipment, Nantong Rainbow Heavy Machineries Co. ltd., the two cranes were loaded by the mega-size A-Class HL MPV, the AAL Melbourne in Taicang. They were then discharged in Jebel Ali, for deployment at the DP World’s Shipyard in Dubai, which handles an approximate 350 vessels a year, mostly ultra and very large crude carriers.
Jack Zhou, General Manager of AAL China ,the office responsible for booking the cargo, said: “The crane components comprised just under 20 big units, the largest of which weighed over 550mt and measuring 115m long. Some we loaded from the wharf and others from a floating barge. They were stowed both in under-deck holds and on the weather deck. Added to this, we received unexpected last minute instructions and changes from the charterer, but were able to safely complete loading to an extremely tight and unmovable loading deadline.”
Nicola Pacifico, Head of AAL Transport Engineering explained: “Even with a vessel providing 40,000cbm stowage capacity, space was extremely tight on this project. The two main structures had to be secured on specially laid rails. One of these came to within 20 cm of our own ship’s crane. This is very close, as decks are rarely even and such tolerances are unusual. If at any point we thought they might touch we would have had to discharge the structure, move the rails and reload again.”
