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Debmarine Namibia’s new, N$2.3 billion diamond exploration and sampling vessel, the SS Nujoma, left the Port of Cape Town yesterday to start two weeks of sea trials.
The mining vessel SS Nujoma has been in the Port of Cape Town since arriving from Norway on 20 August, where it was being outfitted with a sampling system.
The SS Nujoma will ensure sustainable diamond production levels long into the future and has created 140 new direct jobs for Namibians who will operate the vessel.
The sampling system was built in large modules with a combined mass of 2200 tons, in parallel to the vessel construction in Norway. These modules were lifted onto the vessel using the second-biggest super-lift crane in Southern Africa, with the heaviest module weighing over 220 tons. The project is well ahead of schedule.
The two weeks of sea trials will test vessel performance with the new sampling system and it will return to the Port of Cape Town for final completion works.
The SS Nujoma is scheduled to be commissioned next month.
Debmarine Namibia chief executive officer Otto Shikongo said: “The mv SS Nujoma makes Debmarine Namibia’s operations independent as it is the first sampling vessel owned by the company. Debmarine Namibia has been chartering sampling services from De Beers Marine South Africa and a Namibian service provider. ”
The De Beers Marine project head, Michael Curtis, remarked: “This unique and technically challenging, global project has been successful thus far in exceeding its objectives. The project team understand how important the project is to our client, Debmarine Namibia, and have been committed from the approval of the project in April 2015 to fast-track the delivery.
“The project was able to maintain the momentum of the early completion of the vessel and the mission equipment modules, through the integration phase, placing the team in a satisfying position to deliver the project early. The close working relations between the project team and the client have ensured the success of the project to date.”
The mv SS Nujoma is the sixth vessel of the Debmarine Namibia fleet. Debmarine Namibia currently owns, manages and maintains five diamond-mining vessels, namely the Mafuta, Grand Banks, Debmar Pacific, Debmar Atlantic and the !Gariep.