In one of the most complex maritime transport operations in recent years, Kuehne+Nagel has successfully delivered the largest floating drydock ever built in Türkiye to San Diego, California.
The 17,300-tonne behemoth, spanning over 253 meters in length, 54 meters in width, and 21 meters in height, was constructed at a shipyard in Yalova and transported across oceans with meticulous precision.
The transport was commissioned by General Dynamics NASSCO, a major U.S.-based shipbuilder and repair contractor. Once released from its moorings in Yalova, the drydock was towed into open waters by four tugboats. There, it was carefully aligned with the BOKA Vanguard, one of the largest semi-submersible heavy-lift ships in the world, operated by Boskalis.
“We had checklists. Then we had checklists for the checklists: every smallest detail accounted for, nothing left to chance,” said Aliye Erkan Bıyık, National Project Logistics Manager at Kuehne+Nagel, based in Istanbul, Türkiye.
Once secured, after three days, the drydock embarked on a 13,500-nautical-mile journey that would take it across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Because of its enormous size, BOKA Vanguard had to bypass the Panama Canal, opting for the longer and more challenging route around South America, facing ocean storms with waves reaching up to 20 meters.
“The process of securing the drydock was not rushed and took several days: every centimetre, every millimetre had to be double-checked. We also had additional support boats on standby to shuttle crew and engineers between the port, the drydock, and the carrier ship”, commented Aliye Erkan Bıyık, National Project Logistics Manager at Kuehne+Nagel, based in Istanbul, Türkiye.
