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 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, Debmar Atlantic features her own diamond processing plant on board the vessel. During the mining process gravel, bearing diamonds, is airlifted from the seabed to the vessel. The gravel and water is de-aerated before entering the processing plant. The material then goes through various stages and processes before the diamonds are recovered.
Sturrock Dry Dock was also the site of recent repairs on the deep water field development ship (FDS) SAIPEM FDS 2, owned by Saipem (Portugal) Comercio Maritimo (SPCM).
The work was carried out by DCD Marine, Cape Town. SAIPEM FDS 2 was designed and built to assist in the construction of subsea infrastructure, connecting oil production platforms with refineries on shore.
Cape Town Port Manager, Sipho Nzuza, said: “The Port of Cape Town has been earmarked as one of the important hubs for the delivery of government’s Operation Phakisa initiatives aimed at supporting the growth of the local ship repair, ship building and oil and gas sectors. We have seen increased ship repair activity and are gearing up for more frequent calls such as this one.”
