Delivers 340-tonne Buoys to Anchorage in Persian Gulf
Multipurpose vessel operator AAL Shipping recently transported two heavy-lift single-point mooring buoys, or SPMs, weighing 340 tonnes each, from Jebel Ali in Dubai to offshore anchorage in the Persian Gulf.
The SPMs were transported aboard AAL Shipping’s 31,000-deadweight-ton “mega size” heavy lift vessel AAL Kobe, which operates in AAL’s Europe – Middle East / India – Asia Monthly Liner service.
Delivered on behalf of DHL Industrial Projects, the SPMs, which measure 16.4 by 15.9 by 14 meters, will enable offshore interconnection with tankers, loading or offloading gas and liquid products.
Challenges Met
The shipment presented many challenges, including a tight delivery schedule, offshore wind and visibility concerns at anchorage, as well as challenges discharging the two buoys in open water. The latter poses spreading challenges when planning safe stowage on the vessel’s 3,000-square-meter weather deck space, due to the cargo’s shape and size.
“Planning took six weeks,” said Yahaya Sanusi, deputy head of AAL’s transport engineering department. “The operation demanded exacting stowage requirements, including extensive load-spreading calculations, strict protection of filling pipes protruding from the bottom of both units and pin-point positioning by the master and his crew to ensure optimum load and discharge space.”
Temporary platforms were designed and constructed for the buoys to sit on, comprising 750-millimeter-thick tweendeck panels, additional heavy load platforms and wooden blocks, he said.
“We originally planned to ship only one buoy, so our solution was completely redesigned at some point. Despite this, sea fastening and lifting of both units proved no issue at all and was possible with our ship’s equipment,” Sanusi explained.
However, due to Covid restrictions, none of the engineering team could attend discharge, which put pressure on the AAL Kobe’s – especially with a constant risk of bad weather offshore. Sanusi cited strong collaboration between the engineering team in Singapore, Project Engineer Monique Haehre at AAL Hamburg, and Columbia Shipmanagement colleagues manning the Performance Optimization Control Room facility in Cyprus.
Andy Tite, global commercial head, DHL Industrial Projects, said that with the restrictive time frame and decision to ship both SPMs together, AAL’s performance “was all the more impressive.”
“The close partnerships DHL holds with our carriers is imperative to our safe and effective operational performance. In this instance, AAL completed the operations to the highest standards, which is not only a requirement of DHL but also of our clients,” Tite said. “We appreciate greatly their approach technically and operationally, as well as their overall professionalism.”
