Africa’s De Beers Marine Namibia has signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Norway’s Kleven shipbuilding group covering construction of a new  offshore diamond mining vessel that would be a similar but larger than the 113m by 22m Nujoma, which was delivered to De Beers by Kleven in 2016.

The latest vessel, designed by Norway’s Marin Teknikk AS, will measure 177m by 27m to make it the largest ship yet designed by Marin Teknikk and the longest vessel to date to be built at the Kleven yard in Ulsteinvik, Norway.

The completed vessel will have accommodation for 109 people and will be equipped with a diesel/electric frequency-controlled propulsion system as well as azimuth thrusters integrated with a dynamic positioning system.

Report by Jim Shaw