QLD wind farm shipments underway at Brisbane

BETWEEN February and July, AAL Shipping is carrying out a series of shipments between several Chinese ports and the Port of Brisbane, transporting components for the 181-megawatt Dulacca Wind Farm.

AAL said several logistics companies contracted it to manage the ocean transportation for some of the wind farm’s largest components. The shipments will include 43 Vestas wind turbines (towers and blades), transformers, and electrical cables – a total of close to 375,000 freight tonnes of cargo.

AAL Europe chartering manager Marco Wendt said the company had been working closely with Vestas and its global partners, serving many of its wind-farm projects around the world.

“It is a privilege to have this position of trust on such important projects and the successful and safe delivery of our customer’s cargo is a key objective for AAL and our teams worldwide,” Mr Wendt said.

AAL chartering manager Andrew Mangan said the shipments into Brisbane for Dulacca are being loaded from several Chinese ports including Tianjin, Taicang and Yangzhou.

“We are working with multiple logistics companies in their execution, each with their own specific timeline and cargo requirements,” Mr Mangan said.

“We therefore decided to utilise two different vessel classes on the project – our mega-size 31,000 DWT A-Class and the more compact 19,000 DWT S-Class – to manage both large and small shipment sizes with as much efficiency and economy of scale for our customers as possible.”

AAL Australia chartering manager Chris Yabsley said Dulacca Wind Farm is located between Dulacca and Drillham in the Western Downs Region of Queensland and will be powered by 43 Vestas wind turbines of 4.2-megawatt rated capacity each.

“The award of this project is a welcome recognition of AAL’s long-standing ‘Asia – Australia’ trade lane and expertise, which has served customers with a regular scheduled service for over 26 years,” Mr Yabsley said.

“We are proud to be part of such an important local project and helping to expand the use of sustainable green energy solutions in the country.”