Global MPV leader AAL has opened AAL Italia, based in Genoa, in response to the growing demand within Italy for greater and more competitive tramp and projects options to and from major trading points around the world. The new office strengthens the carrier’s European network and underlines its ongoing strategy to offer local shippers value-added access to the global multipurpose and project heavy lift trade.
The move strengthens AAL’s presence in Italy, the third largest national economy in the eurozone and twelfth largest by GDP in the world. The new office will be run by Chartering Director Alessandro De Vincentiis and President Michela Villa, both of whom have experience of working with AAL since 2015. They bring unrivalled local expertise and customer support ethics to a region experiencing real growth and development, especially in sectors like renewable energy.
Alessandro De Vincentiis commented; “With my own 20 years’ experience in the local shipping market and my colleague Michela’s 10 years, we have witnessed first-hand the highs and lows of the local MPV sector. After a very challenging period for the local market, I am truly excited to see a resurgence in project cargo demand from Italy into markets like Asia, Africa and Australasia and the US. We know the local shippers very well, and that, in combination with AAL’s global reputation, coverage and value-added ethics, puts us in poll position to service their needs.”
He continued; “AAL has been successfully delivering multi-billion-dollar global projects on time and under budget for over two decades and with its growing fleet of modern, multipurpose and heavy lift vessels we have everything our Italian customers need to successfully transport their cargoes – whatever they are – worldwide.”
Felix Schoeller, Global General Manager at AAL, added; “We are always on the look-out for strong opportunities like this one that can benefit our customers, service offering and business development objectives. Italian shippers are well served not only by two well-established and regular semi-liner services – ‘Asia - N. America - Europe’, and ‘Europe - Middle East - Asia & AUS’ – but also highly flexible and competitive tramp services. The new office will work hand-in-hand with our European hub office in Hamburg under the direction of Regional GM, Eike Muentz.”
AAL’s specialist MPV fleet is one of the market’s youngest and biggest, combining extreme heavy lift capability (700mt max) with leading in-take capacity. Through a unique triage of award-winning services – Tramp, Semi-Liner & Liner – it has served the multipurpose cargo demands of oil & gas, energy, mining, infrastructure and forestry sectors across the world for almost 25 years.
