The announcement of Strohm’s contract with Allseas in February 2021 didn’t exactly create the kind of buzz that Silicon Valley product launches do. No live broadcast. There is no countdown clock. Just a modest headline in the offshore energy trade press and a press release from the Netherlands. However, if you think about that announcement for a little while longer, you’ll notice a subtle indication that the commercial infrastructure surrounding deep-sea mining is starting to take shape.
The agreement itself is technical and specific. Strohm, formerly known as Airborne Oil & Gas, consented to provide Allseas with a Thermoplastic Composite Pipe jumper, a flexible connector intended to connect a vertical transport system to a seabed vehicle operating between 4,000 and 6,500 meters below the ocean’s surface. This is the first deep-sea mining application using Strohm’s TCP technology. That particular detail is more important than it first appears.
For many years, deep-sea mining has existed somewhere between engineering difficulty and ambition. The minerals—cobalt, nickel, and manganese nodules scattered on the seafloor like examples from geology textbooks—are actually down there, and as battery and electric vehicle manufacturers compete for supply, demand for those materials has increased dramatically. Not a fringe player is Allseas, the offshore installation contractor that purchased an ultra-deepwater drillship and started transforming it into a mining vessel. These are serious individuals working on serious projects. However, without specialized equipment that can truly operate at those depths under those conditions, serious intentions are meaningless.
The Strohm contract becomes intriguing at that point. Because TCP is 80% lighter than comparable metallic piping, it requires less buoyancy at depth, which is a very useful benefit when working with kilometers of vertical ocean column. Additionally, it has an abrasion-resistant liner, which is crucial when the pipe is used to move mineral slurry. Alternatives made of rubber are available, but they come in short, flanged sections. It’s not ideal when the operational complexity is already very high and the seabed is that deep.
The fact that Strohm itself recognizes this contract as a first, not only for the business but also implicitly for the industry, may be the most telling. Additionally, firsts in industrial supply chains often turn into models. Procurement teams take notice when a technology proves it can successfully manage a particular application. Since TCP was implemented in the oil and gas industry in 2007, Strohm reports no failures. In an industry where equipment failure at depth is both catastrophic and costly, that kind of record is not overlooked.
The rate at which deep-sea mining will reach commercial scale is still unknown. Environmental issues are still unresolved, regulatory frameworks are still up for debate, and the International Seabed Authority has taken deliberate rather than urgent action. However, the supply chain doesn’t wait for all of those solutions. It starts to take shape around reputable early projects, operators who are prepared to invest actual funds, and tangible solutions that address actual issues. As this deal comes together, it’s difficult not to see a tiny but significant chapter beginning—not in deep-sea mining per se, but in the industrial ecosystem that would enable it.
Additionally, Strohm is developing TCP for carbon capture, hydrogen transportation, and offshore wind. A company that is simultaneously working toward multiple energy transition sectors was awarded its first subsea mining contract from a Dutch factory. Rotterdam is far from the ocean floor. But the pipe needs to be made by someone.
