A Petrobras drillship believed sold for scrap last year has been granted a new lease of life by Dutch subsea contractor Allseas.
The company has acquired the 61,000-dwt Vitoria 10000 (built 2010) for conversion into a metals mining ship in partnership with DeepGreen Metals.
In November, a second auction for the unit was thought to have resulted in its sale for demolition for $15.1m.
TradeWinds sister newspaper Upstream identified the buyer as Hong Kong-registered recycler BestOasis.
An auction for the ship failed to sell it in September for $47m.
The initial price at the second auction was just $5m.
No price was revealed for the Allseas deal.
New system being developed
The two companies are developing a deep-sea mineral collection system to "responsibly" recover polymetallic nodules from the ocean floor and transfer them to the surface for transportation to shore.
The nodules contain high grades of nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt — all key metals required for building electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy technologies.
"As a former drillship, her configuration is well-suited for modifications that will enable the deployment at sea of a 4.5 km riser currently being developed by Allseas," the company said.
“Allseas is excited to be involved in the exploration of the deep ocean for these important metals,” said Allseas founder and president Edward Heerema.
“Deep-sea polymetallic nodule collection represents a new frontier and a new exciting chapter in Allseas’ history. With our offshore expertise and innovative capability, we can develop creative technical solutions for this new industry.”
Allseas expects the vessel to be operational for tests by mid 2021.
The company told TradeWinds it has not yet selected a shipyard for the work.
DeepGreen chairman and chief executive Gerard Barron said: “The green transition is going to require hundreds of millions of tonnes of nickel, copper and cobalt, and our research shows that ocean polymetallic nodules could provide society with these critical minerals at a fraction of the environmental and social impacts associated with land-based extraction.”
