AAL celebrates 25th anniversary by starring in Discovery’s ‘Mega Shippers’

AAL Shipping is starring in the latest series of Discovery’s hit documentary series, ‘Mega Shippers’ - previewing now on QUEST UK. The popular show selects and tracks a small number of impressive ship operations worldwide, illustrating the commitment of top carriers to doing whatever it takes to deliver their cargo safely and on time in any weather conditions, day or night. 

Spread across two episodes and with a combined feature time of 40 minutes, the segment follows AAL’s successful shipment in early 2020 of SIX giant Rubber Tyred Gantry cranes (RTGs) from Shanghai, China, to Miami, Florida, US. The cargo was shipped on the ‘mega-size’ AAL Newcastle (31,000dwt) and transported on the carrier’s Asia – Americas semi-liner service, which offers regular sailings along the trade. The cargo had a combined weight of 900t and each unit measured 25m x 14m x 26m. It was stowed on the AAL Newcastle’s weather deck – a complex stowage and lashing operation that made full use of her substantial 3,000m2 open deck space and AAL’s project cargo expertise.

John Pittalis, AAL’s Marketing and Communications Manager, explained: “The show’s production company approached us in 2019 and, as big fans of the show already, we immediately began looking for an upcoming project cargo operation that could match the all-action theme of the series and its impressive multi-million dollar cargoes. Our customer and other stakeholders embraced the idea and we thank them and our excellent crew and ground teams for their patience and professionalism.

David Notman-Watt, Back2back Managing Director and Executive Producer of Mega Shippers, added, “AAL’s support for this series allowed our film crew to capture some remarkable footage of this extraordinary shipment. Discovery have supported ‘Mega Shippers’ for three series now, and the reason they continue to champion the show is because of the access that we have given to logistical juggernauts such as the shipment of the six giant RTGs. Moves like this are rarely seen on television, and it is a privilege to capture the team that make it happen at both ends of the process. For that we thank AAL Shipping and look forward to working with them again in the next series.”

Pittalis concluded, “The entire operation from China to the US was filmed and the directors and editor did an outstanding job of highlighting how much planning and collaborative hard work goes into a heavy lift / large dimensional project cargo shipment and how even the smallest detail affects schedule integrity and safety. The show also profiled several of our vessel’s officers and members of our engineering and operations teams – very well-deserved. Our thanks go to Discovery and the show’s producers for choosing AAL to showcase the highly specialised and demanding work carried out each day within the multipurpose (MPP) and heavy lift shipping sector to an audience of millions.”