De Beers Marine Namibia, Bygg nr. 594001 (hull no. 6020) ved Damen, MT 6027 "Bengula Gem"

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Kleven med avtale på nytt diamantskip

Skipsbyggjerkonsernet Kleven kom med gode nyheiter og feirar med kake måndag.

Måndag klokka 11 var det kalla inn til allmøte ved Kleven-verftet i Ulstein og pressa var invitert.

Årsaka var at konsernet har sikra seg ein intensjonsavtale for å byggje eit nytt skip for gruvedrift på havbotnen med De Beers Marine Namibia.

Konsernsjef Ståle Rasmussen påpeika at det ikkje var ei endeleg kontrakt, men kunne opplyse at De Beers var svært nøgd med det første skipet dei fekk levert i 2016. Difor håpa Rasmussen at avtalen skulle bli ein endeleg kontrakt i løpet av første halvår 2018.

Designen kjem frå Marin Teknikk i Herøy.

Diamantskipet blir eit av dei største fartøya Kleven har bygd - 176 meter langt. Det er betydeleg større enn det førre skipet verftet bygde for same kunde.

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Kleven med intensjonsavtale om bygging av 176 m langt spesialfartøy

Kleven har inngått intensjonsavtale med det namibiske offshore diamant-utvinningsselskapet De Beers Marine Namibia om bygging av eit spesialfartøy for operasjonar på havbotnen. Det 176 meter lange fartøyet er av typen MT 6027 frå Marin Teknikk, og vil bli det lengste fartøyet som er bygd på Kleven Verft.

- Vi er svært glade for at vi no har signert denne intensjonsavtalen med De Beers Marine Namibia. Vi har arbeidd saman med reiarlaget og Marin Teknikk i lang tid om dette prosjektet, og alle partar har ein klar intensjon om at dette skal bli ein fast skipsbyggingskontrakt i løpet av første halvår 2018, seier Ståle Rasmussen, konsernsjef i Kleven.

I juni 2016 leverte Kleven Verft nybygget SS Nujoma til De Beers Marine Namibia. Dette fartøyet er eit stort og avansert fartøy for prøvetaking av diamantar på havbotnen. De Beers er verdas største diamantselskap med meir enn 125 års erfaring.

- SS Nujoma har vore ein stor suksess for oss frå dag éin, med suveren kvalitet på prøvene og eit drivstoff-forbruk som er 30% mindre enn forventa. Vi er svært nøgde med fartøyet, og det gode samarbeidet vi har med Kleven og Marin Teknikk. Dette nye fartøyet vi no utviklar er eit naturleg neste steg, seier Mike Curtis, prosjektsjef i De Beers Marine Namibia.

Sist veke offentleggjorde Kleven at selskapet skal bygge eit over 100 meter langt luksusfartøy i samarbeid med det verdsleiande yachtselskapet Lürssen og designselskapet Salt Ship Design.

- Eg er stolt og glad for at det harde arbeidet dei tilsette i Kleven har lagt ned over lang tid og i ein utfordrande marknadssituasjon no resulterer i kontrakt og intensjonsavtale, seier Ståle Rasmussen.
 
Har inngått avtale med namibisk diamant-selskap

ULSTEIN (NRK): Kleven har intensjonsavtale om å bygge et 176 meter langt spesialfartøy til bruk i diamantutvinning.

De ansatte ved Kleven Verft i Ulsteinvik ble mandag kallet inn til allmøte. Der ble de informert om at selskapet har inngått en intensjonsavtale med et namibisk offshore diamant-utviklingsselskap. Skipet som skal bygges er et spesialfartøy for operasjoner på havbunnen. Det er av typen MT 6027, og vil bli det lengste som er bygd ved Kleven Verft.

– Vi er svært glade for at vi nå har signert denne intensjonsavtalen med De Beers Marine Namibia. Alle parter har en klar intensjon om at dette skal bli en fast skipsbyggingskontrakt i løpet av første halvår 2018, sier konsernsjef i Kleven, Ståle Rasmussen.

– Hva skal til for at intensjonsavtalen blir oppfylt?

– Dette er ei stor investering, og det er et stort fartøy som skal utvikles teknisk i løpet av de neste månedene. Hvis det finansielle og det tekniske faller på plass, så håper vi at de vil ha båten. Slik vi oppfatter situasjonen så trenger de mer kapasitet.

Blir det andre diamantskipet
De Beers Marine Namibia er verdens største diamantselskap. Dersom kontrakten blir endelig, blir dette det andre skipet de får levert fra Kleven. Det forrige skipet som ble levert i 2016 var et 112 meter langt spesialskip for mineralutvinning.

Konsernsjefen sier at de har samarbeidet med det namibiske rederiet og Marin Teknikk om prosjektet lenge, og kundene er fornøyd med det første skipet.

– «SS Nujoma» har vært en stor suksess. Det har vært en suveren kvalitet på prøvene og et drivstoff-forbruk som er 30 prosent mindre enn forventet. Vi er veldig fornøyde med fartøyet og det gode samarbeidet vi har med Kleven og Marin Teknikk. Dette nye fartøyet vi nå utvikler er et naturlig neste steg, sier prosjektsjef i De Beers Marine Namibia, Mike Curtis, i en pressemelding.

Rasmussen sier det er et tillitserklæring at de vil bruke verftet igjen.

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Konsernsjef Ståle Rasmussen viser frem skipet.
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Foto: Arne Flatin / NRK
 
Construction of World's Largest Diamond Mining Vessel Underway
BY MAREX 2018-02-26 18:46:40

The De Beers Group has confirmed that construction of the world’s largest diamond mining vessel has commenced.

Local media outlet New Era highlighting the announcement, said the vessel will be used exclusively for operations off Namibia’s coast when it commences operation in 2021. Debmarine Namibia, a joint venture between the government of Namibia and De Beers, first announced a feasibility study for the offshore vessel last year.

Construction of the vessel is expected to cost in the region of N$2 billion ($173 million) excluding around N$5 billion ($432 million) of mission equipment, including crawler-mounted dredge technology, that will be retrofitted afterwards.
Making the announcement last year, Debmarine said various built options were considered and Norway's Kleven Verft, was chosen after the yard's successful construction of the deepwater diamond exploration and sampling vessel, Nujoma that was launched into Debmarine service in July 2017.

Debmarine Namibia became operation in 2002 and mines in the off-shore mining license area off the southern coast of Namibia. The company operates five diamond mining vessels, namely Debmar Atlantic, Debmar Pacific, !Gariep, Grand Banks and Mafuta. Two mining technologies are deployed, the airlift-drill and the crawler mining technology. The mining vessels mine diamonds off the ocean floor using advanced drill technology and supported with sophisticated tracking, positioning and surveying equipment.

The new vessel will be the longest vessel to-date to be built in the Kleven shipyard. At 176 meters (577 feet), she will be slightly larger than the current largest vessel, Mafuta (174 meters, 571 feet). Similar to the Nujoma, the new vessel will be a Marin Teknikk design – MT 6027 vessel. She will also have dynamic positioning.

Namibia has been strengthening its offshore diamond mining capacity, as land-based diamonds are expected to run out within a decade. Namibia has more than 3,700 square miles of diamond concession at sea on the south-west coast which is expected to yield millions of carats of marine gemstones for the next five decades.

In January this year, De Beers announced it is progressing development of the first blockchain technology initiative to span the diamond value chain and provide a single, tamper-proof and permanent digital record for every diamond registered on the platform. The initiative will underpin confidence in diamonds and the diamond industry by ensuring that all registered diamonds are conflict-free and natural, while also enhancing efficiency across the sector.

Following the success of an initial proof of concept trial that resulted in a working prototype, a pilot is now underway involving a small number of participants. A full system launch is expected later this year.

Kilde: https://maritime-executive.com/arti...est-diamond-mining-vessel-underway#gs.eL8Caj4

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Illustration: Marin Teknikk
 
De Beers ser på andre verft

Det vert truleg heller ikkje noko av intensjonsavtalen verftet har med namibiske de Beers om å byggje eit 175 meter langt Marin Teknikk-teikna diamantleiteskip.

I 2016 leverte Kleven Verft det 113 meter lange diamantleiteskipet SS Nukoma til de Beers, eit skip som kosta 1,3 milliardar kroner.

I november i fjor vart det skrive intensjonsavtale om bygging av endå eit skip, men då mykje større og dyrare enn det første.

No vert det truleg ikkje noko av dette storprosjektet ved Kleven Verft.

Etter det NETT NO kjenner til er de Beers no ute og sjekkar pris med ei rekkje verft, inkludert Kleven.

- Det er eit stort og krevjande prosjekt, og vi vil vurdere om vi skal tilby bygging av dette skipet, seier Sævik.

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Understand that building yard for this vessel will be published soon, and it will be at one outside Norway...
 
Damen and De Beers Marine Namibia formalise new relationship, with Mangalia yard centre stage

On 15 May 2019, Damen Shipyards Group and De Beers Marine Namibia (Pty) Ltd participated in a special steel cutting ceremony to mark the beginning of construction on a new offshore vessel. In February 2019, De Beers Marine Namibia awarded a contract to Damen to build a new crawler diamond recovery vessel for offshore operations in Namibia.

At 177 metres (577 feet) long, the new vessel will be slightly larger than the current largest vessel in the De Beers Marine Namibia fleet, Mafuta (174 metres, 571 feet). Constructed from a Marin Teknikk design, the MT 6027 will be the most technologically advanced marine diamond recovery vessel in the world. On-board features include a dynamic positioning system (DP2) based on a seven-thruster propulsion system powered by six generators of 3230 eKW each.

This is the first time Damen has interacted with De Beers Marine Namibia as clients, and the new opportunity is one of several generated by Damen’s shipyard in Mangalia, Romania. The Mangalia yard has the largest capacity of all Damen’s yards, with a total of three graven drydocks up to 60 metres in width and 1.6 km total berthing space. The larger capacity has allowed Damen to take on larger construction projects, such as a RoRo ferry measuring 148 metres in length, a 155 metre long Cruise vessel, and this new 177 metre offshore mining vessel for De Beers.

Damen sales director offshore, Ruud van der Stroom, is thrilled at the opportunity for Damen to apply its expertise at this greater scale. “So far, Damen’s newbuild focus has mainly been on standardisation and in-house or own design vessels, along with various types of support and service vessels built for the offshore market,” he said. “However, the facilities in Mangalia allow us to respond positively to De Beers Marine Namibia’s newbuild enquiry: an engineered-to-order project with vessel dimensions beyond that built by Damen ever before.”

After an intensive and very constructive tender process, Damen was able to secure the contract with De Beers Marine Namibia in early 2019 and has since been working on design completion and on preparation of the Mangalia yard for the vessel’s construction. In terms of progress, Mr van der Stroom adds, “This week we reached a first milestone: steel cutting. We are looking forward to the construction of this vessel, a challenging project I’m convinced Damen, with its extensive expertise and knowledgeable personnel, will successfully deliver on time.”

De Beers Marine Namibia operates the largest offshore mine in the world, working at a water depth of between 90 and 150 metres 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. Michael Curtis, head of the Addition Mining Vessel 3 Project for De Beers Marine, sees the new vessel order as a harbinger for potential future collaboration. “We were already well aware of Damen’s reputation as a reliable, efficient shipbuilder,” says Mr Curtis, “and we are pleased to contract Damen to build this vessel for us after successfully winning a Global Tender for the construction of the vessel. De Beers Marine (South Africa) will construct the mission equipment, comprising a subsea crawler and diamond recovery plant, in South Africa in parallel to the vessel construction. Once the vessel is delivered by Damen, it will be sailed to South Africa where the mission equipment will be integrated into the vessel by De Beers Marine. Given the parallel path and complexity of the project, it is critical to work with the best shipbuilders who have a reputation for performance and on-time delivery.”

The steel cutting ceremony marks the beginning of construction on the vessel, which will take around two years to build. 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.
 
DEB MARINE NAMIBIA TO INVEST IN WORLD'S FIRST CUSTOM-BUILT DIAMOND RECOVERY VESSEL

New vessel will represent the largest ever investment in the history of marine diamond recovery

Debmarine Namibia today announced that its Board of Directors have approved the construction of the world 's first ever custom-built diamond recovery vessel.

The new vessel is expected to cost US$468 million (N$7 billion ) and represents the largest ever single investment in the marine diamond industry.

The ship will become the seventh vessel in the Debmarine Namibia fleet and is scheduled to commence operations in 2022. On completion, the vessel is expected to add 500,000 carats annually to Debmarine Namibia's production, an increase of approximately 35% on current production.

Following an extensive global tendering process, Damen Shipyards were selected to build the ship based on their strang track record for delivering quality vessels and their advanced technological capabilities. The new vessel will incorporate the latest marine technologies that will drive improved safety performance while optimising efficiency and utilisation rates.

Tom Alweendo, Minister of Mines and Energy, the Government of the Republic of Namibia, said: "We note and appreciate the investment announced today by Debmarine Namibia. It is through investments like this we can continue develop Namibia's economy. As the Government we will continue to do what we can to promote and encourage investrnenl in the mining sector."

Bruce Cleaver, CEO De Beers Group, said: "Some of the highest quality diamonds in the world are found at sea off the Namibian coast.

With this investment we will be able to optimise new technology to find and recover diamonds more efficiently and meet growing consumer demand across the globe ."

The new vessel is expectecl to create more than 160 new jobs alongside Debrnarine Namibia's current workforce of 975 employees

Kilde: Debmarine Namibia
 
A gem of a project. De Beers’ record-breaking commission

When it comes to diamonds, De Beers Group is a household name, famed for the scale of its operation and its ubiquity in the market. De Beers has been around since 1888 and has principally been concerned with extracting diamond resources from onshore mines in several countries on the African continent.

From the early 1990s, De Beers began to complement its onshore mining operations by moving into offshore diamond recovery as well, as technology made the practice more cost-effective. De Beers expanded its offshore diamond mining operations in Namibia and in 2000 established Debmarine Namibia in partnership with the Namibian Government. Debmarine Namibia has been growing production from its fleet of offshore mining vessels ever since. More recently, technological development allowed a technique known as sub-sea crawling to come to prominence, thanks to its operational efficiency.

In 2018, the success of De Beers’ offshore operation led to demand for a new additional mining vessel (AMV) to bolster the capacity of its fleet. Following a rigorous tender process, De Beers chose to partner with Damen Shipyards Group on construction of the new vessel, and steel cutting began at Damen’s Mangalia yard in May 2019. Damen is one piece in a large and complex puzzle, as Michael Curtis, project head for De Beers Marine, explains.

“This was a relatively large tender, encompassing many specific criteria,” says Michael. “Due to our confidence in demand, we need a high-quality vessel we can rely on for at least the next 30 years. Furthermore, this is an integrated project involving numerous partners, and each component must be delivered on time, so we need to be confident we can rely on every partner we choose.”

Recovering diamonds offshore is not a common practice, so the preparation of vessels for such a specific purpose is a collaboration between marine experts and mining experts. “The shipbuilder provides the vessel,” says Michael, “and De Beers fits the specialised mission equipment. Most of the design and assembly of mission equipment is done by De Beers in Cape Town, with some external providers supplying additional equipment. It all needs to be integrated into the delivered vessel.” In the case of the AMV3 vessel from Damen, Michael explains, “We’re managing multiple parallel streams that come together simultaneously in 2021, so the vessel needs to be delivered on time to avoid delaying the equipment fitting and incurring extra costs.”

Historically, De Beers has prepared its vessels by purchasing existing ships and refitting them for the purpose of operation. De Beers’ certainty in the longevity of Namibia’s offshore diamond resources means it is in a position to commission more of a purpose-built vessel. The first example of this was the SS Nujoma, the first newbuild commissioned by De Beers, which was constructed by Norwegian firm Kleven and delivered in 2017 for sampling operations.

Like the Nujoma, the AMV3 vessel will be built on a Marin Teknikk design – another critical factor in the process. De Beers likes making long-lasting successful partnerships but wasn’t complacent in consideration of the design bids. “We didn’t choose this design lightly,” says Michael. “It’s especially important on these complex ships, as there is no surplus space – the design is paramount to the success of the project. For example, we’re very happy with the performance of the SS Nujoma: it has a great sea-keeping capability, low fuel consumption, good crew comfort and good station keeping.”

The project breaks new ground in more ways than one – at 177 metres long, the AMV3 will be the largest diamond mining ship in the world, three metres longer than Debmarine’s current largest vessel, the Mafuta. “Vessel size plays a role in the technology we can use on board. Crawler vessels are larger than drill vessels because their production rate is higher and they need to carry a bigger processing plant,” says Michael.

Drilling operates on a microcycle consisting of a short drill time followed by an almost equal move time. This technique leads to high periods of inactivity, but it was still the most effective method of marine mining up until relatively recently. Sub-sea crawling became successful in the mid 2000s, as the technology matured enough for vessels to operate efficiently.

The Mafuta, itself a crawler vessel, began recovering diamonds in South African waters in 2007, moving to Namibia in 2010. In crawling, a nozzle is used to suck material off the sea bed, aided by a slewing mechanism that loads material into the nozzle, meaning that the overall mining rate and recovery efficiency is higher. Sub-sea crawling is now the solution of choice, providing higher production rates than drilling, and a larger part of Namibia’s offshore diamond area is economically viable with crawler technology.

The AMV3 will also be the most technologically advanced marine diamond recovery vessel in the world and will feature a dynamic positioning system (DP2) based on a seven-thruster propulsion system powered by six generators. Michael believes that now is the time dynamic positioning has come into its own. “Historically, we’ve always used vessels with a 4-point mooring spread – the stability was always there but it takes a day to lift, meaning we lose a production day every seven to eight days.” Now, DP technology surpasses anchoring and offers a much greater degree of flexibility. “With DP,” says Michael, “we’re not limited to the size of spread, there’s no risk of anchor loss, we don’t have to carry and maintain anchors and winches, and there’s no safety risk in the handling of anchors.” Moreover, DP requires very little increase in fuel consumption to keep the vessel on its station, so the benefits make it a far more attractive proposition.

Given its design specifications, the AMV3 is the subject of high expectations. “Performance is key,” says Michael. “This vessel will contribute 30% of the total production of the Debmarine Namibia fleet, so uptime is very important. Given its size and technological superiority, this vessel will be the ‘flagship of the fleet’ for now.” The AMV3 design meets high environmental standards and has a green passport. It burns cleaner fuel, producing reduced rates of SOx and carbon emissions, leaving a smaller environmental footprint and requiring less energy and people to recover diamonds from the same area of sea bed.

Longevity is also a critical component of the design and construction. As diamond recovery and technology change over time, it’s important for De Beers Marine Namibia to be able to maintain the vessel and keep it in good condition so it can meet the changing demand. As Michael reflects, “We know that Damen builds high quality vessels to last decades, which is exactly what we need. A bad ship is always a bad ship: you can’t patch it up, you have to start again from scratch. We’ve seen that the quality of ships produced by Damen in its Galati yard is very high, and we know that Mangalia has a world-class steel making capability, so our expectations of this project are high.”

The strategic purpose of this order is primarily that of fleet expansion, but also of regeneration. Debmarine’s existing production assets are quite old and will start retiring over the coming decade.

As the older drill technology is phased out,” Michael explains, “we’re also expanding our production by increasing our crawler capability.

Now is the perfect time: there’s a bright future for diamonds in Namibia, according to Michael. “The country has a great resource,” he says. “The diamonds mine at 98% gem quality, some of the highest value diamonds in the world.” For the country as a whole, this project plays an important role, providing high numbers of sustainable jobs for local workers. “It’s a massive social uplifter,” says Michael, “and I’m very proud to be associated with the project, it’s unique and exciting. The future looks very positive.”

Kilde: DAMEN

MT 6027
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Begge illustrasjoner: Marin Teknikk
 
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