13.06.2022

Mammoet Focus 30

Mammoet has used its new Focus 30 crane to install 10 modules weighing up to 428 tonnes into the world's largest diamond recovery vessel, the Benguela Gem, which was been built in Europe for Debmarine Namibia and which features innovative subsea crawling equipment enabling the vessel to recover high quality diamonds from the seabed at water depths of 90 to 150 metres.
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The modules which make up the ships mining/recovery equipment, include the lower and upper launch and recovery towers, a winch and the crawler were manufactured and installed on the 177 metre ship in Cape Town, South Africa by De Beers Marine. The operation took the Mammoet’s South African team three weeks to complete, allowing it to finish ahead of schedule.
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The Focus30 is erected vertically in sections and requires no laydown area during the assembly of its boom, while its low ground bearing pressure - less than 10 tonnes a square metre - meant that no special ground civil works were required. The video below shows the crane build up.



Ewan Labuscagne project manager for Mammoet South Africa said: “We are proud to have worked on the construction of the world’s largest diamond recovery vessel using one of the most innovative cranes in the world. I am particularly proud of the entire team: the resilience, flexibility and the teamwork shown, and having played a part in the delivery of the project ahead of schedule, despite the challenges of the pandemic.”

Debmarine Namibia is a 50/50 joint venture between the Government of the Republic of Namibia and the De Beers Group, the world’s largest diamond company. The Benguela Gem has started working off the coast of Namibia, commencing recovery operations that are expected to add an additional 500,000 carats of high quality diamonds a year to the market. The ship will also create 160 jobs for Namibian citizens.