Published on Oct 27, 2013
Mighty Ships Peace in Africa
Subscribe to Us Today! Peace in Africa is a diamond-mining ship owned and operated by De Beers in the western coast of South Africa.[11] Built in 1983 as Dock Express 20 for Dock Express Shipping (later Dockwise), the semi-submersible multirole heavy lift vessel was converted to the world's largest cable layer in 1993.[9] In 2005 she was purchased by De Beers, converted to a subsea diamond mining ship by A&P Tyne over the course of 11 months. The ship's new name, Peace in Africa,[6][12] implies that it is providing an alternative to blood diamonds. Then named Dock Express 20, the ship's keel was laid in 1982 in the Netherlands at Verolme Shipyard Heusden and it was launched the following year. Originally a heavy lift ship, it has an overall length of 169.52 metres (556.2 ft). In terms of width, the ship has a beam of 24.20 metres (79.4 ft). The height from the top of the keel to the main deck, called the moulded depth, is 15 metres (49 ft).[13] The ship's gross tonnage, a measure of the volume of all its enclosed spaces, is 14,793. Its net tonnage, which measures the volume of the cargo spaces, is 4,437. Its total carrying capacity in terms of weight, is 14,617 long tons deadweight (DWT), the equivalent of approximately 300 adult male sperm whales.[14] Dock Express 20 was powered by two Stork-Werkspoor 6TM410 four-stroke medium-speed marine diesel engines of 3,128 kW (4,195 hp) apiece. Each engine powered an independent controllable-pitch propeller. This main propulsion system was able to move the ship at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). For harbour-maneuvering, the vessel was also fitted with a 625 kW bow thruster. In addition the ship has two 600-kilowatt (800 hp) auxiliary generators to provide shipboard electrical power. When the Dock Express 20 was converted to a dynamically positioned cable ship, she was refitted with three 1,325 kilowatts (1,777 hp) azimuth thrusters to serve as its main propulsion. Dock Express 20 was originally built to house 24 crewmembers, but that number was more than tripled in the 1993 conversion. In 2007 the ship was converted again to work as a dredger, increasing the gross tonnage to 15,854, and the deadweight tonnage to 7,935 long tons.
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