How Aeromarine found a matched pair of AC-14 High Holding Power anchors at the world’s largest ship-recycling yard and delivered them to one of the largest oil tankers afloat.
CLIENT
Euronav, Antwerp
VESSEL
Euronav Oceania (ULCC)
SCOPE
2 × AC-14 HHP anchors
SOURCED FROM
Alang, India
THE CHALLENGE
The Euronav Oceania is not an ordinary ship. At 380 metres, she is a TI-class Ultra Large Crude Carrier built in 2003 — one of the largest oil tankers ever to sail. A vessel like this carries anchors to match: AC-14 High Holding Power anchors of around 21 tonnes each.
She lost both of them.
Replacing anchors of this size is close to impossible at short notice. Only a handful of foundries in the world cast them, and a new order runs to many months of lead time. For a vessel of this value, every day at anchorless standstill is a day it cannot earn. Euronav needed a matched pair, and needed them fast.
WHAT AEROMARINE DID
Where the world scraps its ships, the rarest parts can still be found — if you know the yard. Aeromarine does.
- Found a matched pair of AC-14 High Holding Power anchors — approximately 21 tonnes each — at Alang, the world’s largest ship-recycling yard, where parts from decommissioned vessels become available to those who know the yard.
- Verified the units against the required specification: AC-14 High Holding Power anchors forged in Spain by Vicinay, with unit weights of 21,290 kg and 20,220 kg cast and marked on the shanks.
- Arranged urgent pick-up and ocean freight from Mundra to Valletta, Malta, coordinating directly with the vessel’s forwarder and Malta agent.
- Managed the documentation and customs paperwork so the anchors moved without delay.
THE OUTCOME
From enquiry to dispatch in days, not months. Two irreplaceable anchors, sourced from stock and shipped halfway across the world, brought one of the largest tankers afloat back to readiness — while a new-build order would still have been waiting in a foundry queue.
WHY IT MATTERS
This is the whole Aeromarine proposition in one job. When the part is nearly impossible to find and the clock is running, stock, sourcing and speed are worth far more than a price list. We do not win by being the cheapest. We win by having the answer ready when it matters most.
The AC-14 anchor head · the maker’s mark cast in Spain, unit marked 21290 · the heavy stud-link chain:
Craned and loaded for dispatch — 21 tonnes of anchor moving out of the yard:
