AAL Australia has deployed an S-Class heavy lift vessel to ship chemical plant components from Sattahip in Thailand to Dampier in Western Australia.
AAL says their heavy lift transport solution was “tailor-made” for client American Shipping and Chartering (ASC).
The project required their "highly versatile" 19,000DWT vessel, the AAL Dampier (IMO 9521540).
With a combined maximum crane-lift capacity of 700 tonnes, three cargo holds, flexible tweendecks and an expansive weather deck, the vessel enabled “a tailored stowage plan that maximised cargo capacity while ensuring compliance with safe-navigation”.
The tallest component was around twenty metres in height.
The cargo comprised a wide range of heavy lift and over-dimensional plant components, weighing up to and exceeding 100 tonnes.
Specialist components on the AAL Dampier. Image: AAL Shipping
According to AAL, the ship’s crane was “taken to its limit” with the tallest and heaviest unit—a chemical tank—requiring a 16-point rigging arrangement with specific slinging lengths.
Clearance was said to have been tight between the weather deck and the bottom of the unit.
AAL head of transport engineering Nicola Pacifico said the shipment presented challenges requiring close collaboration between the chartering and engineering teams.
“Measuring almost 20 metres in height, the tallest heavy-lift component required 16 rigging points with defined length specifications, taking the lift to the crane’s operating limit,” Mr Pacifico said.
“With less than 500 mm of clearance between the weather deck and the unit, precision engineering and close oversight were essential. We deployed an on-site engineering team to supervise the operation and ensure a safe and successful delivery.”
Project Ceres, led by Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers, is a large urea plant on the Burrup Peninsula, near Karratha.
It is designed to produce about 2.3 million tonnes of urea annually, converting natural gas into urea.
AAL Australia chartering manager Chris Yabsley said the shipment was an “excellent example of AAL’s ability to adapt our vessel deployment quickly and efficiently to meet any Australian project-cargo requirement, regardless of cargo size or schedule complexity”.
“For this project, we redeployed the heavy-lift vessel AAL Dampier from her regular liner service to provide a dedicated tramp solution,” Mr Yabsley said.
“She proved to be the ideal vessel for the operation, and we successfully loaded and discharged the cargo without incident or damage. The tailor-made engineering solution and precise transport execution demonstrated the full capability and commitment of our team.”