The multipurpose shipping operator AAL Shipping (AAL) delivered four of the largest rubber tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) in its history to the Port of Oslo, Norway.

These new generation mobile units, measuring 36 metres in height and 28 metres in length, were transported from Taicang in China to Oslo on a single sailing aboard the 31,000 deadweight mega-size multipurpose vessel (MPV), the AAL Pusan.

The cranes were engineered and manufactured by Kalmar, part of Cargotec and Rainbow-Cargotec Industries (RCI) in Taicang. The units are designated to help deal with the increased volume of container arrivals from Asia and Europe at Norway’s busiest port. Port of Oslo handled 1.5 million metric tonnes of containers in 2019 alone.

It is Norway’s main logistics hub that handles about 80 percent of the country’s imported containerised goods.

The four cranes had a combined weight of almost 700 tonnes. Three of the cranes were fully erected and the fourth was loaded in parts, using the AAL Pusan’s port-side heavy lift cranes (700 tonnes max lift). They were transported from China to Norway along AAL’s monthly Asia – Europe Trade Route.

Commenting on the delivery, Eike Muentz, general manager Europe, AAL Shipping said it was booked through the company’s office in Porvoo, Finland.

“Demand for regular and dependable services between Asia and Europe has grown exponentially in 2021, as markets rush to address shortfalls in scheduled development projects and shortages in general stock and commodity levels, depleted due to the pandemic lock-down of the past 18 months. In this sense, we are not just moving project heavy lift cargo like these cranes, but smaller breakbulk parcels, general cargoes, dry bulk commodities, steel, and containers,” Muentz said.

AAL operates one of the multipurpose shipping sector’s largest fleets of specialist MPV heavy lift vessels, comprising both mega-size (30,000+ deadweight tonnage) and smaller tonnage vessels.

AAL released a video of the operation, which you can see below.