Steel Cut on De Beers Diamond Ship
Damen Shipyards Group and De Beers Marine Namibia (Pty) held a steel cutting ceremony to mark the beginning of construction on a new offshore crawler diamond recovery vessel for offshore operations in Namibia.
At 177 meters (577 feet) long, the new vessel will be slightly larger than the current largest vessel in the De Beers Marine Namibia fleet, Mafuta (174 meters, 571 feet). Built from a Marin Teknikk design, the MT 6027, on-board features include a dynamic positioning system (DP2) based on a seven-thruster propulsion system powered by six generators of 3,230 eKW each.
This is the first time Damen has interacted with De Beers Marine Namibia as clients. De Beers Marine Namibia operates the largest offshore mine in the world, working at a water depth of between 90 and 150 meters off the south west coast of Namibia. The company owns five mining vessels and a dedicated sampling vessel, and additionally charters one sampling/mining vessel.
Damen Shipyards Mangalia will deliver the vessel platform in Mangalia and the vessel will sail on its own keel to Cape Town, South Africa. After the integration of the mission equipment in Cape Town, the vessel is expected to deliver first diamond production in Q2 2022.