The vessel was previously known as Additional Mining Vessel (AMV#3) and re-christened Benguela Gem.
- The vessel is the world’s largest diamond recovery vessel designed in Norway and Poland, built in Romania by Damen Shipyards Mangalia and equipped by De Beers Marine South Africa in Cape Town.
- The vessel cost US$420 million (N$7 billion) to custom-build through co-funding from five banks, namely Nedbank, RMB, Standard Bank, Bank Windhoek and ABSA, with Debmarine Namibia covering 25% of the total project cost.
- This translated into N$5.6 billion provided by the banks, representing 75% of the cost of the vessel and Debmarine Namibia financing the remaining N$1.4 billion.
- The 177 metres long vessel, will use state-of-the-art technology to optimise ocean floor diamond recovery, through sub-sea crawling extraction techniques to retrieve diamonds from the seabed, which will then be processed on board. Diamond recovery by Debmarine Namibia takes place at 90 to 150 metres below sea level.
- The vessel is the new flagship and the seventh ship in Debmarine Namibia’s fleet and its recovery equipment was built in parallel with the vessel construction.
- The vessel is expected to operate for at least 30 years.
- When it commences commercial operations next week, Benguela Gem is expected to increase Debmarine Namibia’s production by about 500 000 carats, boosting its annual production by 35%.
- The diamond recovery vessel is anticipated to contribute approximately N$2 billion in taxes and royalties per annum in addition to more than 160 jobs.
