AAL Shipping has shipped 38 private yachts on deck in a single sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton and Antwerp. The cargo covered an area of 2500 square metres, or half a football field, and the largest yacht measured 38 metres in length.

AAL shipped the yachts on board of the “mega size” 31,000 dwt AAL Melbourne, which has a 39,500-cubic-metre intake capacity and weather deck space of 3000 square metres.

Marc Willim, General Manager of AAL’s Chartering Department, commented: ‘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.’

He added: ‘At a time when the global shipping community is concerned about the ability of MPP carriers to deliver service and schedule integrity, this sailing examples AAL’s own boosted frequency through the US.’

This article first appeared on Project Cargo Journal, which is another publication of SWZ|Maritime’s publishing partner Promedia.