Roll On! Giant Wheel Gets Shipped Out to the Farm

UAE – TAIWAN – Break bulk and project heavy lift carrier, AAL Shipping has delivered a cable carousel measuring 23 metres in diameter, so that is a massive 73 metres in circumference, to the Jan De Nul Group, for the Formosa 2 offshore wind farm project, 9.5 kilometres 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 multipurpose vessel AAL Nanjing to the project marshalling port Taichung, Taiwan. The cable carousel is one of the first major components to be delivered to Taichung Port where works have begun to develop the project’s operations and maintenance base.

The Formosa 2 project started construction at the end of 2019 and the project will be in operation in 2021. The giant offshore wind farm is expected to produce enough green energy to power 380,000 households a year and offset 18.75 million tonnes 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 tonnes of undersea power cable, the carousel alone weighed over 370 tonnes. The unit was loaded and discharged using both of the Nanjing’s port-mounted heavy lift cranes and rigged in three points to a 22.5 metre lifting beam (with a safe working load of 637 tonnes), which proved to be the safest solution for the lift.

”Its significant diameter of just over 23 metres was slightly less than the 23.4 metre beam of the S-Class vessel, but wider than her 18.8 metre hatch cover, so it ended-up protruding over both sides of the vessel. Safe to say that we do not leave any stone unturned when planning the optimum transport solution for such complicated cargo shapes and sizes.”

Christophe Grammare, Commercial Director of AAL commented on how the pandemic has crept into every aspect of the workplace saying:

“Of course, added safety and security measures worldwide due to Covid-19 have put a greater strain on our sea and land-based teams and operations, but we accept these measures are now part of the new normal in the shipping sector and carefully factor them into our scheduling and planning to ensure that we manage, and then meet, the expectations of our customers at all times.”

“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 tonne heavy lift capability. With the fleet employment strategy we have in place we can offer sailing frequency and vessel choices, from 19,000 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.”