AAL Shipping has recently delivered a cable carousel measuring 23m in diameter (73m circumference) to Jan De Nul Group, for the Formosa 2 offshore wind farm project, 9.5 km off the coast of north-west Taiwan. The cargo was loaded in Jebel Ali and transported on deck of the 19,000 dwt heavy lift (HL) multipurpose vessel AAL Nanjing to the project marshalling port Taichung, Taiwan.
This US$2 billion offshore clean energy project started construction at the end of 2019 and will be in operation in 2021. Formosa 2 offshore wind farm is expected to produce enough green energy to power 380,000 households a year and offset 18.75 million mt of carbon emissions in its lifetime.
Yahaya Sanusi, Deputy Head of AAL Transport Engineering, commented, “Manufactured in Norway’s Drammen Yard and designed to spool 3,000 t of undersea power cable, the carousel alone weighed over 370 t. The unit was loaded and discharged using both of the Nanjing’s port-mounted HL cranes and rigged in three points to a 22.5 m lifting beam (with a safe working load of 637 t), which proved to be the safest solution for the lift. Its significant diameter of just over 23 m was slightly less than the 23.4 m beam of the S-Class vessel, but wider than her 18.8 m hatch cover – so it ended-up protruding over both sides of the vessel.”
Christophe Grammare, Commercial Director of AAL, added, “This particular cargo was carried on one of our four ‘S-Class’ vessels – a young 19,000 dwt class that is extremely flexible and features a significant 700 t heavy lift capability. With the fleet employment strategy we have in place, we can offer sailing frequency and vessel choice – from 19,000 dwt to 33,000 dwt – to our customers trading between the Middle East and Asia and westwards towards Europe and the US, for multipurpose cargoes of any type and size.”
