WWL ALS seafreight team in Moerdijk the Netherlands has successfully carried out an intra Moroccan transport of a 254 ton weighing desalination barge with dimensions: (L) 30m x (W) 11.5m x (H) 5.5m.

This movement was carried out with close cooperation through the WWL group agent and a local partnership – Transports Marocains.

The barge was located in Casablanca and needed to be shipped to the more southerly part of Morocco. The pontoon itself is a self-sufficient water making platform and was needed in Dakhla to provide the local population with fresh drinking water due to the area suffering from a long lasting drought.

With the humanitarian aspect in mind, the cargo was urgently required at the destination therefore WWL ALS had to find an available and suitable vessel quickly; it also had to have the ability to carry this cargo within the restrictions presented to them (time, port draft restrictions, cargo weight, and flag waiver).

At loading port the total gross weight of the barge of 282 metric ton was brought down to 254 ton by removing 4 x 7ton filters. Once the filters were removed the barge could be lifted on board by the carrying vessels own gear (2x150tons capacity).

After reaching its destination in Dakhla, a draft restricted port, the vessels Master and crew were faced with another challenge caused by the forces of nature, namely swell which delayed the discharging process.

However, thanks to the professional intervention and mitigation of WWL ALS local partners, a suitable discharging spot, free of swell could be made accessible and discharging could be safely carried out.