Fellow Chartered Engineer and Chairman and Founder of Allseas, Edward Heerema, welcomed members of the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers (KIVI) for a special lecture featuring Allseas' latest in-house breakthrough technologies. The lecture turned out to be very popular, and attended by young engineers as well as seasoned engineering professionals. There was plenty of room for lively and thought-provoking discussion.

Allseas has been pioneering for decades, driving innovation and pushing back the boundaries of offshore technology. Edward Heerema is praised for his significant pioneering and innovative contributions to the offshore and marine industry worldwide. Installed as a Fellow Chartered Engineer by KIVI in 2016, Edward constantly raises the standard of engineering as a whole by taking leadership in his field and sharing his knowledge and experience with new generations of engineers.

The lecture adressed the subject of deepsea polymetallic nodule collection. The operation is challenging in more ways than one, combining the technological challenge of collecting nodules and bringing them to the surface with the environmental challenge to do so with a minimal environmental impact.
Allseas carried out a series of testruns on location in the Pacific together with the continuous presence of a survey vessel to monitor the impact on the local seabed environment. The tests were succesful with a fair yield of nodules, while limited disturbance to the environment was recorded.

KIVI hosts a variety of interesting lectures exclusively for members to meet peers, share knowledge, get inspired, discuss a variety of topics and build a network.



Allseas has developed and built a system designed to collect polymetallic nodules from the seabed with minimal impact on the local environment The system comprises a nodule collection vehicle that drives over the seabed and collects nodules like a large vacuum cleaner. Inside the collector, nodules are separated from sediment and pumped up through a riser pipe to a surface production vessel, Hidden Gem.

In November 2022 the system was tested in the Clarion Clipperton zone in the Pacific Ocean. Within the framework of these tests, independent marine experts and scientists conducted extensive environmental impact analyses.

Lecture by Edward Heerema
Edward Heerema is Chairman of Allseas. In 2013 he was awarded the KIVI Medal of Honour for outstanding achievement in the fields of Offshore and Maritime Technology.