VESSEL REVIEW | Winning Simandou 1 – Transshipment barge to help facilitate Guinea's iron ore exports

China’s Nantong Tongmao Shipyard has delivered a new transshipment barge to the Winning International Group of Singapore.

Named after the Simandou mountain range in the West African country of Guinea, Winning Simandou 1 has a length of 110 metres (360 feet), a beam of 30 metres (100 feet), a design draught of 3.5 metres (11 feet), and a depth of seven metres (23 feet).

Ensuring loading of iron ore onto large ships even with port limitations

The vessel is designated as a floating transshipment unit (FTU) built to support the offshore transshipment of iron ore and bauxite, which are abundant in Guinea. The minerals are loaded directly onto the barge while in port. The barge is then towed by a tug to deeper waters where large bulk carriers wait to receive the mineral cargo. Afterwards, the barge is brought back to port to repeat the process.

The use of the FTU allows Guinea’s iron ore export activities to continue unimpeded, as it ensures mineral cargo will be loaded onto large oceangoing ships without requiring the latter to manoeuvre to berth purely for loading (which would not be viable anyway due to the vessels’ deep draughts).

Supporting China's steel industry

The transshipment barge will be deployed at the Simandou project site in southeastern Guinea, one of the largest iron ore mines in the world with total reserves of two billion tonnes and an annual production capacity of 120 million tonnes. The iron ore extracted from the area will be transported to China.

Construction of Winning Simandou 1 was undertaken jointly with Chinese steel manufacturer Baowu. The FTU is registered to Tuvalu and classed by Bureau Veritas.