AAL Shipping has announced the signing of an MOA in October 2021 to acquire an additional two 33,000dwt W-Class MPVs, vessels that have also been serving their operating fleet on a commercial management basis. They are the ‘AAL Mars’ and the ‘AAL Merkur’. AAL will also enhance its fleet with the addition of a minimum of four mega-size heavylift MPP vessels – ‘premium heavylift carriers’ featuring innovative design, heavy lifting gear, and optimised MPP cargo intake and handling capability.
These vessels, along with the four acquisitions earlier this year, grow the owned AAL fleet to 569,600dwt and give AAL full ownership of 80% of their operating fleet – 711,200dwt in total – and decision-making, technical, and crew management control.
In the past eight months, AAL Shipping (AAL) has successfully acquired four multipurpose vessels (MPV) from the second-hand market, comprising two heavylift G-Class MPVs (25,800dwt each) – The ‘AAL Galveston’ and the ‘AAL Genoa’ – and two ‘mega size’ W-class MPVs (33,000dwt each) – the ‘AAL Paris’ and the ‘Grey Fox’. “We have been commercially operating all these vessels for some time, along with several of their sister vessels. Already deployed worldwide to handle project heavy lift, breakbulk, dry bulk, and general cargo, they match our customer and trade route demands perfectly.” Kyriacos Panayides, managing director at AAL Shipping.
In addition to the six vessel acquisitions already mentioned, AAL is progressing with its ‘third-generation’ MPP ship building programme. The programme will see AAL enhance its fleet with the addition of a minimum of four mega-size heavylift MPP vessels – ‘premium heavylift carriers’ featuring innovative design, heavy lifting gear, and optimised MPP cargo intake and handling capability.
AAL is currently in negotiations with the CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard in China to build these vessels. They will be constructed to innovative design specifications penned by our own engineers working in conjunction with the technical expertise of Columbia Shipmanagement – the combined team responsible for all our newbuilding programmes to date. They will be 32,000dwt vessels, with three heavy lift cranes (350t each and 700t maximum lift) and fully compliant with forthcoming IMO CO2 emissions regulations. The vessels will also feature other new technologies in line with AAL’s digitalisation and sustainability objectives.
AAL drew upon 26 years of multipurpose heavy lift operational experience to design vessels that could not only accommodate all multipurpose cargo types, but also handle the growing size of project cargo components being planned for key industry verticals like wind. The newbuilds will be deployed in support of our customers’ large-scale global projects both on our regular monthly trade routes between the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia and
our bespoke tramp solutions worldwide.
“In one of the most interesting aspects of the vessels’ design, the accommodation blocks have been located at the front of the vessel. This fore position delivers flexibility to expand intake of over dimensional cargo without obscuring visibility for the Master. We expect the vessels to be in the water by 2024.”
