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May, we offer quotes and indications which allow us to consult and manage expectations during this review stage, even before the client has committed to proceed with a vessel fixture.
We treat every heavy lift move like a custom project, offering full project cargo assessments, engineering and stowage plans, survey and permit management, global route optimization, and customs and regulatory support.
You mentioned the re-routing of vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. How is this impacting charter rates, fuel costs, and scheduling, and how are your clients managing these disruptions? Taking the longer route from Asia to Europe, especially to the Mediterranean, increases transit time and subsequently vessel running costs. The additional time also removes the vessels from service, causing them to stay away from business for longer.
Clients must be more flexible with dates or even consider the very few vessels willing to transit the Red Sea. There is also an additional war risk insurance consideration on this trade through the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea. We can identify potential problems and react quickly to ensure safe and timely delivery of the owner’ s items, even when faced with an unpredictable scenario. The threat of Houthi attacks is one issue which is currently causing the need for rapid rerouting.
On a recent project to load and ship Red Jet 4, the high-speed catamaran, from Southampton, UK, to South Korea, on the AAL MV Kobe, the vessel’ s planned passage through the Red Sea was ruled out by the shipowner following deteriorating conditions, including renewed Houthi rebel attacks on commercial ships. The team quickly adapted the voyage plan, securing the necessary permits, port arrangements, and vessel support to accommodate the new route back through the Suez Canal and around the Cape of Good Hope, while considering weather variations, fuel resupply, crew rescheduling and increased transit risks over the longer distance.
What role does experience play when transporting specialized cargo like tugs, ferries, or crew transfer vessels? Could you share a recent example where your team’ s expertise made a critical difference? Peters & May has managed a range of interesting and complicated high-value projects, requiring contributions from our dedicated departments for budgeting, technical support, operational control, documentation management, local port handling and loadmaster teams on site. Marine cargo such as monohull boats will need a specialized cradle for support and securing it safely on the vessel’ s deck. Not having a suitable cradle can have significant ramifications for insurance.
Challenging shipments in recent years include the safe transportation of two 620-ton Minehunters from Belgium to Pakistan, which involved moving over 1200 tons on heavy lift ship the MV UHL Fame and required 1.35 kilometers of lashing cable, 16 giant slings and reinforced deck platforms.
When shipping two new 22-meter, 320-ton tugboats from Vietnam to the Port of Saint- Malo, France, the Peters & May logistics team worked with MV Fairmaster, fitted with two 1500-ton cranes, with a combined lift capacity of 3000 tons. Bespoke lifting lugs integrated directly into the structure of the vessels allowed them to be hoisted with precision, using a crane system that safely distributed the weight and reduced any potential risk to the tugs during the handling process.
Meanwhile, for some projects, specialized equipment must be in place to prevent additional insurance premiums, as was the case when we moved a cradle from the
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