AAL expands multipurpose cargo offering with new Asia-Europe service
To meet growing market demand for dependable multipurpose heavy lift cargo coverage ex Europe, AAL Shipping has added a scheduled monthly fast-track ‘Europe – Asia Express Liner Service’to its existing portfolio of services from the Continent that already comprises its popular ‘Europe – Middle East/India – Asia (EUMEIA) Monthly Liner Service’, as well as a monthly ‘Mediterranean – Middle East – India Pendulum Service’.
Eike Muentz, General Manager of AAL Europe explained: “We have listened to the market and increased our already popular, premium multipurpose services to support a plethora of customer needs with more tonnage and more connections. Our portfolio of three distinct monthly services provides customers with regular, trusted and flexible sailings between Europe and its key trading markets around the world and benefits from the employment of premium MPVs from every class of AAL’s fleet – including our new Super B-Class, which has already demonstrated its cargo intake credentials by transporting 89,000 freight tons of mixed cargo from Asia to Europe on a single sailing.”
While all three services utilise AAL’s global fleet of heavy lift multipurpose vessels, ranging from 19,000 DWT up to 33,000 D WT, the ‘Europe – Asia Express Liner Service’ will also employ Super B-Class vessels, offering lifting capacity up to 700 tonnes and a clear weather deck space of over 5,000 sq m. This provides AAL with the cargo handling capability and intake capacity to parcel any cargo on any sailing, from outsized heavy lift units to smaller breakbulk, general cargoes and even bulk.
Jan-Henrik Heyken, Senior Chartering Manager at AAL Europe, added: “The Europe – Asia Express Liner Service will depart key project cargo hubs in Western Europe and connect them directly with Taichung, Shanghai, Masan and other port calls considered on inducement along the route.
“With these three distinct services, we have something for everybody. Depending on the cargo enquiry, destination, schedule and laycan requirements we can select the optimum ex-Europe service that best fits our customers and their project needs, all the while providing the assurance of award-winning dependability and cargo handling quality that the market has come to expect from AAL.”