Spanish Research Vessels to get Kongsberg and Simrad Systems

July 18, 2008

Miguel Angel Lleches, Project Manager; Agustin Mayans, Managing Director, Simrad Spain SL, Jose Ignacio Díaz, Project leader, Oceanographic Insitute, Vicente Carrasco, Sales Manager, Subsea, Simrad Spain SL, Miguel Angel González, Financial Manager, Simrad Spain SL.

The Spanish sales division for Simrad and Kongsberg Maritime have signed contracts for one of its biggest projects to date; the supply and installation of navigation, positioning and research systems on two newbuilds for the Spanish Oceanographic Institute (I.E.O).
The twin 45m research vessels are specifically designed for research on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal areas although both will call the home. The first vessel is expected to be delivered in December 2009 and the second, a year later in December 2010. Both vessels will be silent, in accordance with the noise reduction recommendations set out by ICES 209.

The first contract, signed with M Cies Shipyards in Vigo at a value of $5m, is for the supply and installation on each vessel of the Kongsberg Maritime Integrated K-Bridge, VDR, K-Pos with C-Joy (Dynamic Positioning), Seapath 200, SSU (Sonar Sychnronising Unit), MDM400 (Marine Data Management), EA600 single beam echo sounder and navigation sensors. Simrad equipment is also included as part of this contract in the form of the multi frequency EK60 echo sounder, FS20/25 and ITI trawl monitoring and other fishery research systems.

The second contract, worth $6m was awarded directly by the I.E.O and consists of the supply and installation of an extensive scientific research equipment package on both vessels, consisting of the EM710 0.5º x 1º multibeam echo sounder, Simrad ME70 scientific multibeam, HiPAP 500 Acoustic Positioning System and TOPAS PS18 Parametric Profiler.