When it completed a 20-day transit between Batum in Indonesia and the Firth of Forth in Scotland, SAL Heavy Lift vessel, MV Lone entered the record books. The 12,500DWT specialised heavy-lift ship completed the 8,733 nautical mile voyage at an average speed of 19.3 knots on the 16th May.
For the Hamburg-based shipowner and operator, SAL Heavy Lift, the speciality lies in crafting well-engineered transport solutions for cargoes that are too heavy, out-of-gauge or of such awkward dimensions that conventional forms of shipping are impossible.
An average speed of 19.3 knots, 22.2 mph or 35.7 kph in land speed terms, sustained over such a long distance is a considerable achievement. For a specially equipped vessel like MV Lone, it’s a record. The vessel, built in 2011 at J J Sietas’ yard in Hamburg, is 12,500 DWT has a LOA of 160 metres and a beam 28 metres.
The cargo had a tight delivery schedule of 2 weeks. It was destined for an off-shore location some miles from the East Coast of Scotland and was required on-site so as not to delay the start of a drilling project.
SAL selected MV Lone, one of the largest vessels in its fleet of fourteen multipurpose heavy-lift units. These vessels are deployed on both regular semi-liner services around the world.The in-house engineering team was engaged to design the logistical side of the operation but it was left to the MV Lone and her crew to plot a safe course and to attain the maximum speed across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal to North Europe via the Mediterranean.
Matthias Meyer, SAL’s Project Manager, commented on the record-breaking feat that a journey of nearly nine thousand nautical miles is not quite halfway around the world. But it is not far short. It is an impressive feat to maintain this sort of average speed. The team was proud of the officers and crew of Lone for making this possible.
SAL’s ability is to meet the requirements of the most challenging and complex of cargo moves ad it maintains its long-standing reputation for reliability and on-time delivery.
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Source: AJOT
