Original news was published on 28 July, 2014

At 1,144 tons, shipment one of heaviest transported on Pacific Service line

Austral Asia Line (AAL) delivered a pair of LNG tanks and an engine for the world’s first LNG-powered container vessels. The cargoes were loaded at Masan in South Korea and shipped to General Dynamics’ NASSCO’s shipyard at the Port of San Diego in California, where two new Marlin-class vessels are under construction for TOTE.

With a combined weight of 1,144 tons, the shipment was one of the heaviest handled by AAL on its Pacific Service, the carrier said in a statement. Each tank weighed 380 tons and measured 26 meters long and 8.3 meters wide. These massive stainless steel cryogenic tanks were manufactured by Cryos and will store liquefied natural gas on the new Marlin-class ships.

The Doosan-built main engine weighed 384 tons and was 12 meters long and 5 meters wide. The cargoes were loaded on AAL’s A-Class AAL Singapore, a 31,000-deadweight-ton vessel with a combined lifting capacity of 700 tonnes from its twin 350-tonne onboard cranes.

The first Marlin vessel is about 40 percent complete, according to NASSCO. Construction began on the second vessel earlier this year in May. Delivery of the two ships is scheduled for late 2015 and early 2016.

*NEWS SOURCE