First of the Dual-Fuel, Methanol-Ready Series Slated for Delivery in May
Breakbulk carrier AAL Shipping has announced the start of construction of the last in a series of six new next generation “Super B-Class” vessels.
A steel cutting ceremony was held for the vessel, named AAL Dammam, at the CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard in China, where all six ships are being built.
AAL Dammam is one of five of the series named after breakbulk-handling ports, together with AAL Antwerp, AAL Hamburg, AAL Houston and AAL Dubai. The sixth vessel, AAL Limassol, named after the Dutch town where AAL was founded in 1995, was launched in late-December ahead of sea trials this month and expected delivery in May.
Three more of the series, which have been billed as the “most efficient and competent MPVs in the water”, are also slated for delivery this year.
The dual-fuel, methanol ready Super B-Class, designed by AAL’s engineering and commercial teams and Columbia Shipmanagement, is a 32,000 DWT heavy-lift vessel equipped with three, 350-ton cranes. Tandem lifting with cranes 1 and 2 or 2 and 3 gives the fleet a maximum lifting capacity of 700 tons and an outreach of 35.7 meters. Each ship can carry up to 42,000 cubic meters of breakbulk cargo on a single sailing.
In addition to the cleaner fuel options, the vessels will be equipped with modern ballast water treatment systems and a special hull coating for fuel efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions.
AAL’s fleet already boasts 24 MPVs ranging from 19,000-33.000 DWT.
We caught up with Christophe Grammare, managing director of AAL Shipping, in Dubai to find out more about the Super B-Class series and how the company is futureproofing its fleet for the global energy transition:
AAL Shipping will be exhibiting at Breakbulk Europe 2024 on 21-23 May in Rotterdam.
