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AAL completes deliveries to Australia windfarm

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The renewables market continues to provide work for those that can handle it, with AAL successfully completing three sailings into Adelaide with 45 windmill blades, turbine generators and other related components on each sailing, destined for the new AGL Silverton Windfarm in the Barrier Ranges of New South Wales in Australia.

The Silverton Windfarm sailing is part of a larger series of renewable energy cargo shipments into Australia carried out by AAL in partnership with COLI Schiffahrt & Transport (COLI) in Bremen.

The total series comprises seven sailings into the Australian Ports of Adelaide, Newcastle and Kembla and harnesses AAL’s ‘Mega-MPV’ 31,000dwt A-Class vessels, loading and transporting wind components from production facilities in Germany, Spain and China. The 63m long blades carried by AAL for the Silverton Windfarm are the longest ever to be shipped into Australia.

AAL’s A-Class vessels were almost exclusively used on this project, utilising their huge cargo intake of nearly 40,000m3 and weather deck space of 3,000m2 to safely transport the large number of blades on each sailing, explained Yahaya Sanusi from AAL’s engineering division.

Elaborating on the scale of the project cargo, AAL Europe gm and head of AAL’s Wind Energy Team Eike Muentz said: “Not only were these blades the longest ever to be shipped into Australia, but we also managed to safely load and stow 45 of them on a single sailing, which is a first too.  This enabled significant economies of scale for our customer and their stakeholders, due to the reduced number of total sailings needed. The satisfaction of a job well done is even better when we can push the boundaries of what's been possible before."

COLI Bremen md Alain Akavi concluded: “The success of any global logistics solution hinges upon the smallest detail being accounted for and dealt with. And with our renewable energy customers comprising some of the world’s leading brands and industry pioneers, we can’t afford mistakes. Their expanding global footprint, coupled with the increasing physical size of modern windmill components, places ever-increasing demands on us and our chosen partners to control time and cost efficiencies. Working with a carrier like AAL, that not only has the physical capability to do the job, but that shares our commitment to service integrity and quality, is imperative.”