Set to open in October 2020, the new Cruise Terminals at the Dubai Harbor are supposed to enhance Dubai’s position as a leading global hub for maritime tourism, attracting visitors from all over the world. Currently being under construction, the cruise facility will comprise two terminals strategically located on a pier stretch of 910 meters that cater to the complete passenger turnaround of two mega cruise ships at once. Hellmann has now successfully delivered the heart of the new cruise terminal: the Seaport Passenger Boarding Bridges (SPBB), through which cruise passengers will begin their dream journey in the future.

Back in October 2019, Hellmann Project Cargo had been award by Adelte – The Boarding Company to move four giant Seaport Passenger Boarding Bridges (SPBB) from their factory in Cataluña up to their final destination the brand new Dubai Harbor Cruise Terminal, located in the Jumeirah Palm, in Dubai. Our customer Adelte is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of airport finger bridges and seaport passenger boarding bridges.

First of all, Hellmann had to coordinate the transport of all disassembled parts from our Customer’s factory up to Barcelona Port where each SPBB was fully assembled. This first stage represented about 70 inland transports including 46 special transports with pilot cars. Some pieces with more than 4,24 Mts high, which left no more than four centimeters to go under the bridges on the way to Barcelona. This first operation took about four months to bring all the transport safely to the port. Once assembled, Hellmann had to sign a charter party to bring two heavy lift vessels with the capacity to load and transport the four SPBBs safely from Barcelona to Dubai. We decided to manage the operation with two new ships named MICK and KEITH – obviously honoring The Rolling Stones.

After several weeks of planning and engineering, the loading time started with the first two SPBBs onto KEITH. The first loading was a particular challenge due to the giant cargo Dimensions: 33,00 x 25,00 x 17,00 Mts (Length x Width x Height ), compared to the limited space on board and the outreach of the cranes working in tandem. The operation forced us to go with a very dedicated move, once the first unit was placed on board. To load the second unit we had to maneuver the lower boarding tunnel underneath the one already placed on board. This operation only let us a one-meter margin to load the second unit safely on board. In addition to all these difficulties we further had to face the COVID restrictions, with travels limitation, no flights available to bring the naval engineers, and a lack of accommodation to supervise the entire operation.

After having the first two units safely loaded onboard and having the vessel departed from Barcelona, the challenges did not stop. The Dubai Harbor Cruise Terminal is still under construction and has no legal and customs identifications yet to allow the vessel to berth. Thanks to the team at Hellmann UAE, and their approach with the local customs, we finally received the green light from the UAE customs authorities to allow the vessel to get straight to the terminal to proceed with the off-loading.

With the supervision of our local team in Dubai, the DHCT received their first two units safely in the first week of June 2020. Last week, we proceeded with the loading of the next two units in Barcelona on vessel MICK under safer and better general conditions, and we plan to deliver in Dubai by the first week of July.

"A special Thank You for the successful operation goes to Javier Alonso, our Project Cargo supervisor in Spain, and to Shahin Shajahan, Asst. Manager – Hellmann Industrial Projects UAE," says Alexandre Varillon, Manager Hellmann Project Cargo.