AAL Shipping has completed the transport of 125,175 revenue tonnes of wind turbine blades and towers for the King Rocks Wind Farm in Western Australia.
The cargo was moved in two sailings by AAL Antwerp, a 32,000 DWT Super B-Class vessel, and AAL Shanghai, a 31,000 DWT A-Class vessel.
The final shipment arrived in Bunbury on AAL Antwerp with 91,739 revenue tonnes of wind energy cargo. The cargo included 51 wind turbine blades measuring up to 80 m in length and weighing more than 36 t each.
The blades were stowed up to six units wide and five tiers high. The shipment accounted for more than 70% of the project’s total cargo volume.
Together with an earlier voyage by AAL Shanghai, the two sailings carried components for the 17-turbine King Rocks Wind Farm near Hyden, Western Australia.
Renate Poppe, Regional Operations Manager at AAL Shipping Australia, said the company used cargo stowage and vessel utilization planning to reduce the number of voyages required for the project.
Nicola Pacifico, Global Head of Engineering at AAL Shipping, said the discharge operation in Bunbury required planning around crew and cargo safety, as well as port crane height and outreach limitations. The discharge of AAL Antwerp was completed in nine days.
The King Rocks Wind Farm will generate 105 MW of renewable energy. The project is expected to power approximately 70,000 homes and support around 200 jobs during construction and operations over its 30-year lifespan.
