RollDock, SAL to Set Up World’s First Pool for Dock Vessels

RollDock and SAL Heavy Lift will establish the world’s first pool for dock vessels on 1 April to jointly handle Roll-On / Roll-Off and Float-In / Float-Out heavy lift cargoes with six geared dock vessels, all being operated under the RollDock brand. Five of the vessels come from RollDock’s fleet and one from SAL. 

The pool will consist of of SAL’s Combi Dock I vessel and RollDock’s three S-Class and two ST-Class vessels.

One of RollDock’s S-Class vessels, RollDock Sea, is currently transporting transition pieces for the Merkur offshore wind farm in Germany. At this moment, 34 transition pieces have been transported in five shipments. The company expects to transport the last 32 pieces in four shipments over the coming two months.

The dock vessel pool will be managed by RollDock with SAL providing specialized heavy break bulk cargo support.

Paul Könst, CEO at RollDock said: “Both SAL and RollDock stands for superior shipping solutions in their respective fields, where we place the engineering part of our work at the forefront. Our companies share the same philosophy on client focus, quality, innovation and safety. With our pool, we will be offering a competitive yet high quality heavy transport service.”

Justin Archard, Commercial Director SAL, said: “SAL wants to keep its place in the Roll-On / Roll-Off and Float-In / Float-Out market, however we also realize that our core service is lift operations. Whenever clients look for heavy transportation – with lifting, rolling or floating services or a combination – our setup offers them a one-stop-shop.”

Both companies will also continue independently and operate vessels outside the pool.