Production Support and Storage Vessel

摘要

A production support and storage vessel is provided, as well as a method of processing material, such as ore, gathered from the seafloor using such a vessel. The production support and storage vessel has facilities to receive ore from the seafloor, process it, and store the ore in bulk storage silos. Additionally, the production support and storage vessel has a ballast capability and system to ballast the vessel down to a full operational draft. When needed, typically approximately weekly, a transport vessel is moored to the production support and storage vessel and the production support and storage vessel offloads the stored ore using a conveyor system.

主权项

1. A production support vessel for use on a body of water, the production support vessel comprising:
a seafloor material receiver that receives seafloor material from below the surface of the body of water; a seafloor material processor that processes seafloor material from the seafloor material receiver; one or more bulk storage silos that store processed seafloor material from the seafloor material processor; a loading system configured to distribute processed seafloor material to the bulk storage silos; and an unloading system configured to offload processed seafloor material from the bulk storage silos to a transport vessel moored alongside the production support vessel.