Month: March 2020

At AAL we have been closely monitoring global developments in relation to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and already undertaken company-wide measures to ensure the health and safety of our people and the continuity of our shipping services and operations during this time and in the event of any regional escalation in threat.

We accept the weight of responsibility to provide trusted global services and connect the supply chains of our customers even during this unprecedented time of challenge. Despite decisions being made at governmental level within each market worldwide, we aim to be as prepared as possible with our own proactive set of business continuity plans to mitigate health & safety risks whilst ensuring that AAL continues to prove services of the highest standard.

We have engaged our QHSE team to work alongside Management and other departments to monitor the pandemic status globally and harmonise new far-reaching protocols, that will guide our working practices until this crisis subdues. These include:

• improved office hygiene and new daily health & safety procedures within the workplace;
• tailor-made remote working / split working arrangements for our offices worldwide;
• meetings, gatherings and business travel restrictions and quarantine directives;
• harnessing of innovative and harmonised communications methodologies and cloud-based technology systems.

Throughout this time, we will remain in constant contact with customers, vendors and other business associates to update you of all significant activity and developments affecting AAL and its global operations. Furthermore, should you have any queries relating to the above, please do not hesitate to contact us anytime at either aal@aalshipping.com, or your local AAL office.

In the meantime, we thank-you for your continued support and wish you, your colleagues and loved ones the very best during this challenging time.

Kind regards

Kyriacos Panayides
Managing Director

Hamburg welcomed the ‘AAL Kembla’ on her first call in Germany’s largest universal port. She berthed at C. Steinweg’s multi-purpose Süd-West-Terminal. AAL Shipping is deploying the heavy-lift/project cargo ship on its new monthly liner service connecting ports in Europe, the Middle East, India and Asia. The service is overseen by AAL’s Hamburg office, opened in 2012, which also offers tailormade tramp chartering shipping to all regions in the world.

Built in 2011, the ‘AAL Kembla’ is one of the carrier’s second-generation A-class multi-purpose, heavy-lift vessels. She is 193.81 metres long and 29.1 metres wide, with a draft of 9.2 metres. The vessel has four shipboard cranes and a maximum lift capacity of 700 tons. The deadweight tonnage of the ‘AAL Kembla’ is 31,000 dwt.

In the Port of Hamburg, dominated by container handling, heavy-lift shipments are a specialised field. Project/heavy-lift cargo is classified as ‘Conventional General Cargo’. This covers cargo that containers cannot transport on account of size and/or weight limitations, including large vehicles, machines, plant and out-of-gauge iron & steel products. During her first call in Hamburg at C. Steinweg’s Süd-West-Terminal, the ‘AAL Kembla’ loaded steel plate for discharge in Shanghai and chemical components for Masan in South Korea.

Hamburg is very well placed as a universal port, with its range of general and project cargo shipping companies. Generally connected trimodally, its terminals with their state-of-the-art handling equipment are the basis for its significance in the international general cargo transport chain. Handling, transport and warehousing of general cargo generate high added value: almost one-third of regular liner services in the Port of Hamburg transport non-containerised general cargo. In 2019 general & heavy-lift cargo ships and special vessels for wheeled – RoRo – or refrigerated cargo accounted for 17% of all calls in the port. General cargo handling totalled 1.4 million tons, 1.1 million tons being exports.

Just recently, AAL was declared ‘Shipping Company of 2019’ by the internationally respected trade magazine for heavy-lift transport, ‘Heavy Lift & Project Forwarding International’. This year, the company celebrates its 25th anniversary.

AAL’s 25th-anniversary celebrations got off to a fine start at the Breakbulk Middle East 2020 Expo in Dubai (25-26 February).

As well as being ‘Thought Leader‘ sponsor of the conference, Managing Director Kyriacos Panayides was invited to participate in a lively ‘IMO 2020′ panel discussion with several of the sector’s leading stakeholders – including representatives of Agility and Fluor.

The festivities continued for AAL at a beachfront reception on the evening of the 25th, in the shadow of the renowned Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Hotel. At the high calibre event hosted by AAL, invited guests from around the world enjoyed an evening of Michelin star food and drink. Guests also enjoyed a sumptuous chocolate birthday cake and unique gin-based cocktail, both made especially for the night – the latter called the ‘AAL @25 Anniversary Cocktail’.

Icing on the cake, during AAL’s Activities in Dubai, was provided by Ann De Smet and Phillippe Beaujean of the Port of Antwerp who presented AAL with a crystal glass commemorative award, to celebrate the launch of its new ‘Europe – Middle East/India – Asia Monthly Liner Service’, of which Antwerp is one of its base ports.