World’s First Seabed Mining Vessel – Design Challenges

摘要

Objective / Scope: The world’s first seabed mining vessel is presently under construction and expectedrnto be delivered for commencement of seabed mining operations soon. This paper discusses in brief thernchallenges faced during the design of the vessel, and it limits to the vessel aspects only, the mining systemrndesign aspects are excluded.rnMethods: Some design challenges faced include the very demanding space constraints due to specializedrnequipment and machinery for mining and ore handling, the high positional accuracy requirements andrnhighly challenging side-by-side mooring operations in the open sea. Various studies were carried outrnincluding model tests, side-by-side mooring analyses and dynamic positioning (DP) simulations etc. tornconfirm compliance with the complex operational requirements of the seabed mining vessel.rnObservations / Conclusion: Close collaboration between designers, owner, suppliers, classificationrnsociety and shipyard is required to find the optimal solutions for the design of complex vessel and newrnship type such as this seabed mining vessel. The result is the design of a 227m by 40m, 30MWrndiesel-electric driven seabed mining vessel to the highest class of ABS including the Comfort Classrnnotation and the Enhanced DP2 (EHS-F) dynamic positioning system notation. The vessel is equipped tornsupport seafloor resource production, onboard ore storage and side by side offloading to export bulkrncarriers. The seabed mining vessel contains ore storage holds arranged amidships and is equipped with arncompletely enclosed cargo handling system which transfers the ore directly to any hold and from the holdsrnto export handy size bulk carriers.rnNovel Info: There are no prior design from which to take reference, and this design of the seabed miningrnvessel will set the benchmark for others to come. This paper provides an insight into the design andrndevelopment of a new ship type for an emerging industry like deep sea mining.