AAL Melbourne transports 38 yachts on deck – US to Europe

AAL Shipping, in partnership with Peters & May, has successfully transported 38 private yachts – the largest of which was 32m long – on deck in a single sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton and Antwerp. The cargo covered an area of 2,500m² – about half the size of a football pitch – and was carried aboard the ‘mega size’ 31,000 dwt AAL Melbourne, with her 39,500cbm intake capacity and weather deck space of 3,000m².

“With 25 years’ experience delivering tramp chartering solutions and operating scheduled liner services on busy trades around the world, we have carried our fair share of pleasure craft,” says Marc Willim, General Manager of AAL’s Chartering Department. “Only a few months ago, we transported an 86m long aluminium superyacht hull from China to Australia, the largest single floating cargo piece that we have ever carried. Similarly, 38 yachts with an average length of 16m on deck requires well-planned stowage engineering and lashing, a first-class crew and a very special ship.”

Dave Holley, CEO of Peters & May, says: “Moving this many yachts in one go is always full of challenges and we are very careful which carrier we choose for such a voyage. AAL provided us with a timely solution and the whole operation went extremely smoothly. We are now looking forward to our next transatlantic voyage.”