Hansa Heavy Lift Ship HHL Tokyo IMO #9448346

HHL Tokyo

Our Waterfront Correspondent in Victoria BC, Murray Polson, recently captured a fascinating series of images of the Hansa Heavy Lift vessel HHL Tokyo as she loaded a large yacht onto her deck from the harbour. Polson regularly scours the waterfront for pictures and captures ship portraits of the vessels arriving and resident in the harbour there. Victoria is a relatively small port but regularly receives interesting visitors such as the HHL Tokyo.

HHL Tokyo

Brand new, the HHL Tokyo was built in 2011 at Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group, China and registered in Antigua Barbuda. She is owned by Hansa Heavy Lift GmbH in Hamburg Germany who currently operates 17 multipurpose heavy-lift freighters and thus presides over the largest fleet in the heavy–lift and project market. IMO #9448346. (168.68m x 25.2m x 9.5m 17644gt 19496dwt 16.8kts max and 14.9kts average).

HHL Tokyo

Murray reports: "It is easier on the yacht and the crew of seven (and cheaper too) to transport from one location in the world to another as deck cargo rather than fighting through heavy seas in blue water. The yacht shown being loaded is the Winning Drive, a Westport 130 William Garden designed 'super yacht' built in Westport WA USA (Gregory C. Marshall Naval Architect Ltd.). There is no port of registry shown on her hull but she was built in 2007 (39.62m x 7.62m x 1.9m) and has 10 guest cabins. She was longer than the distance between the two cranes lifting her. Consequently the Supercargo had to ‘twist’ her to fit through the gap between the cranes and settle her on her cradle for the trip. The old tug already aboard is the Wallace Foss – built in 1897 as the Oscar B. she was sold in 1913 to Rouse Towing and ended up owned by the prominent Foss Towing Co. in Seattle WA USA when they took over Rouse Towing. They sold her as a yacht in 1972 and now she is leaving the Pacific Northwest."

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