Bakker Sliedrecht and Damen Shipyards Group joined forces in the construction of the world’s largest complex offshore diamond mining vessel for De Beers Marine Namibia. The 177-meter vessel, known as Additional Mining Vessel 3 (AMV3) will join Debmarine's existing five-strong fleet, which dredge thousands of tonnes of sediment from 150 meters below the seabed, 12 miles off Namibia's south-western coast.
Within the new construction project, Bakker Sliedrecht was responsible for the entire electrical system integration of the ship within the new construction project. It engineered all electrical installations from the drawing board. From the electrical propulsion via diesel generators to the switchboards, from the high voltage to low voltage distribution network to the integration of complex systems such as the Dynamic Positioning (DP2) system, powered by seven thrusters and six generators. In addition, Bakker Sliedrecht supplied over 150 meters of switchboards for low voltage on board.
The collaboration between builder and system integrator was special in several respects. During the engineering of the ship, teams from Damen Shipyards and Bakker Sliedrecht worked closely together, even in each other’s offices. “We cooperated openly and transparently. That has worked well for both party’s and ultimately contributed to higher quality, more efficiency and cost-effectiveness for both companies,” says project manager Fred Hordijk of Bakker Sliedrecht.
“The project has recently been successfully completed, but there have certainly been challenges. For example, we have built and supplied quite a number of switchboards in a very short time, under difficult circumstances, in the middle of the pandemic. That made it very special,” says Hordijk. “By being flexible and by completing the switchboards later on site, the construction of the ship did not have to stagnate and Damen was able to deliver the AMV3 on time.”
