Deepsea Mira — SPS & BOP Exchange

The Deepsea Mira has been continuously deployed in Namibian waters since 2023 under Afrishore's onshore supply base support — sequential drilling campaigns at Venus-1x, Tamboti-1x, and Volans-1x & Kharas-1. In 2024–2025, between campaigns, the rig underwent its Special Periodic Survey at the Port of Walvis Bay — with one significant additional scope item: a Blowout Preventer (BOP) exchange. BOPs are subsea safety assemblies weighing in excess of 400 tonnes; exchanging one requires specialised heavy lift coordination far beyond standard SPS scope.

Afrishore delivered the integrated supply base services for the survey period — customs, warehousing, rigging, crane and trucking coordination, crew rotation, immigration support — and managed the additional heavy lift logistics required for the BOP exchange itself. The replacement BOP arrived via international freight, was staged shoreside, transported to the rig via supply vessel, and the outgoing unit returned through the same chain in reverse. Multiple heavy lift movements, each requiring rigorous rigging plans, customs documentation, and port coordination beyond a standard SPS scope.

A Special Periodic Survey is rarely simple. With a BOP exchange layered in, it requires a partner already embedded in the port.