De Beers Marine News

Alewijnse reports it has been awarded a contract to perform the complete electrical installation on board what will be the world’s newest and largest offshore diamond recovery vessel. Designated an additional mining vessel (AMV) by its owner De Beers Marine Namibia (Pty) Ltd, the ship will be the seventh member of the fleet of operator Debmarine Namibia.Alewijnse said it is once again working with the Damen Shipyards Group, this time at Damen Shipyard Mangalia in Romania. The first steel was cut for the vessel in May 2019 and now Alewijnse is preparing to start work on board.

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…

Wärtsilä and De Beers Marine have signed an agreement for the replacement of generating sets aboard De Beers’ diamond mining ship Debmar Pacific. The vessel, originally built in the 1970s, will be outfitted with new Wärtsilä gensets to extend its lifetime and improve reliability.Debmar Pacific is engaged in diamond mining operations off the coast of Namibia. With modern gensets, the lifetime of the vessel is extended and its specific fuel oil consumption (SFOC) is reduced. In addition…

Kleven signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Namibian offshore diamond mining company De Beers Marine Namibia for the building of an offshore vessel purpose-designed to support seabed mining operations. Designed by Marin Teknikk of Norway, the 176m ship will be the longest vessel to date to be built at the Kleven yard in Ulsteinvik, Norway. The MoU follows Kleven's June 2016 delivery of SS Nujoma to De Beers Marine Namibia. "With unrivalled sample quality and a fuel consumption 30 percent lower than expected, the SS Nujoma has been a success story for us from the start.

The Sturrock Dry Dock in the Port of Cape Town has been a hive of activity recently with a number of interesting vessels berthing at the facility for repairs and maintenance. The mining vessel, mv Debmar Atlantic, owned by De Beers Marine Namibia (Pty) Ltd, recently underwent routine work at the dry dock, carried out by contracting firms. Built in 1978, mv Debmar Atlantic features its own diamond processing plant on board the vessel. During the mining process gravel, bearing diamonds, is airlifted from the seabed to the vessel.

Norwegian shipbuilder Kleven announced its contract with De Beers Marine Namibia, part of De Beers Group, for the building of a specialized vessel for deep water mineral exploration, initially announced in October 2014, is expected to receive final approval in May 2015. The first of its kind vessel will be of MT 6022 design from Marin Teknikk. This design is proven within the offshore construction segment, but the newbuild for De Beers will include a wide range of tailor made equipment and features.

Norway’s Kleven has enjoyed a strong Q3 with significant orders from Maersk and De Beers, bringing its  order book to 18 vessels valued at $1.8 billion. De Beers Marine Namibia, part of De Beers Group, signed a deal with Kleven to build a specialized vessel for deep water mineral exploration. While the MT 6022 design from Marin Teknikk is well proven in the offshore construction segment, this will be a first of its kind vessel and will include a wide range of tailor made equipment and features.

Kleven signed a contract with diamond company De Beers Marine Namibia, part of De Beers Group, on the building of a highly specialized vessel for deep water mineral exploration. The first of its kind vessel will be of MT 6022 design from Marin Teknikk. This design is proven in the offshore construction segment, but the new build for De Beers will include a wide range of tailor made equipment and features. “Underwater mineral exploration is a new segment for Kleven, and we look forward to working closely with De Beers on the realisation of this highly advanced vessel.

A&P Tyne Ltd, part of UK’s A&P Group, was awarded the first phase of a multi-million dollar conversion contract involving the 14,793 grt Dock Express 20 by De Beers Marine (Pty) Ltd of South Africa. This 1983-built ship will arrive at the yard during August this year (2005) and remain for up to 11 months. On completion of the project the vessel will return to South African waters for the finishing touches to enable her to operate as a fully equipped diamond-mining vessel. This follows the successful delivery during 2004 of the !Gareip, which was converted by A&P Tyne for the same owner. Dave Skentelbery, Managing Director for projects…

Sonar Research and Development, or SRD, has completed an upgrade of systems used by De Beers Marine in their offshore diamond mining process. SRD’s latest SVS 3 sonar systems are now fully operational in DeBeers Marine exploration activities on their survey and sampling platforms, providing geologists with vital information about the diamond bearing strata on the ocean floor. The systems are being used off the west coast of Africa, in the Orange River Basin, South Namibia. De Beers Marine will be working closely with SRD to further develop applications of the technology for use in their wider diamond mining activities. SRD’s system is designed to provide De Beers Marine a bathymetric data set from which to examine mining efficiency, as well as its environmental impacts.

The M.V. !Gariep has arrived at A&P’s Tyneside Hebburn Conversion Facility. The vessel departed Cape Town, South Africa on November 20 and will arrive Tyneside on December 23, 24 days ahead of schedule. The contract was won following significant international competition in August of this year. The new 300 tonne mid body fabrication block has now been completed five weeks ahead of schedule. This block has been assembled in the Hebburn fabrication facility and work is now undergoing installation of pipe work, ventilation trunking and other systems in preparation for the insertion of the mid body in dry-dock. The vessel is due to dry dock in mid January and the operation to insert the mid body will commence late January.