Expanding Dutch group Damen Shipyards has branched out again with an order for the world's first custom-built diamond mining ship.
De Beers Marine Namibia (Debmarine) said the deal is worth $468m.
The crawler diamond recovery vessel will be its biggest ship at 177 metres in length.
It includes a dynamic positioning system (DP2) based on a seven-thruster propulsion system powered by six generators of 3230 eKW each.
The contract is Damen's first with the shipowner and it was won because of the space offered at its new Mangalia yard in Romania.
This yard has also allowed Damen to break into cruiseships.
The new unit will be the seventh ship in the Debmarine fleet and will deliver its first diamonds in the second quarter of 2022.
Damen sales director for offshore, Ruud van der Stroom, said: “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.
“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.”
