The SHUN XIN HE XIE, with a beam (width) of 36 metres, became on Monday, June 16, the widest vessel ever to dock at the Port of Aveiro. Coming from China, with a stopover in Spain, this was also the vessel’s first operation in Europe.
Chartered by CS Wind Portugal, the vessel remained docked at the Port of Aveiro throughout the morning with the goal of assessing the port infrastructure's ability to accommodate large-scale ships. The operation proceeded as planned, allowing the port’s pilots and technical teams to test manoeuvres with significantly larger vessels than those that usually operate in the area.
Sérgio Eiras, legal director at CS Wind Portugal, explained that the test was essential to understand “the Port of Aveiro’s capacity to receive larger vessels,” ensuring that, in the future, these ships can unload the raw materials required for the company’s operations. CS Wind is currently expanding its facilities and plans to build, in the medium term, a new factory for offshore industry structures. “Our suppliers operate high-capacity vessels, and it is essential to know whether we can receive them here,” Sérgio Eiras emphasised.
If operational viability is confirmed, CS Wind plans to centralise in Aveiro the logistics flows related to the reception of raw materials and the distribution of production, thereby reinforcing the Port of Aveiro’s role in supporting the energy transition and the renewable energy sector.
Built in 2023, the SHUN XIN HE XIE arrived in Aveiro without cargo, in an operation of an exclusively technical nature. The aim is to ensure that the port infrastructure is aligned with the growth of the offshore wind industry in Portugal.
