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Southern Ocean News

23 Feb 2024

Boskalis Commissions BOKA Ocean Cable-Laying Vessel

BOKA Ocean vessel (Credit: Boskalis/Photo by Herman IJsseling - Flying Focus)

After a major conversion, Dutch marine services firm Boskalis has commissioned the BOKA Ocean vessel.The vessel was acquired in 2023 as a pipe-laying vessel and was subsequently converted into a broadly deployable cable-laying vessel.After BOKA Ocean completed its sea trials in the North Sea, the vessel is ‘more than ready’ to start on her maiden project in the German part of the North Sea, Boskalis said.The BOKA Ocean has been reunited in the Boskalis fleet with her two sister vessels.In fact…

23 Jan 2024

RRS Sir David Attenborough Begins Research Mission in the Southern Ocean

(Photo: British Antarctic Survey)

Scientists aboard Britain's high-tech polar research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough are headed to the Weddell Sea to investigate how carbon dioxide moves and transforms in the Southern Ocean.The ship departed Tuesday from Punta Arenas, Chile for the 30-day scientific expedition.As the carbon in the seawater rises to the surface near Antarctica, it interacts with the atmosphere, ice, and microscopic plants and animals, called phytoplankton and zooplankton, near the ocean surface, before descending to the ocean depths.

26 Nov 2023

Engine Room Fire Investigation Highlights Due Diligence Failings

Source: ATSB

A fire on board a multi-purpose vessel chartered by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) while transiting the Southern Ocean highlights the risks and challenges of operating in harsh, remote conditions.On April 5, 2021, the 145 meter MPV Everest was en route from Antarctica to Hobart with 37 crew and 72 Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) staff on board when a fire broke out in its port engine room.The fire was contained and eventually extinguished using the engine room water mist fixed fire-extinguishing system after about 2.5 hours…

01 Nov 2023

Biggest Chinese Antarctic Fleet Sets Off to Build Research Station

Credit: Timo Palo - Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED

Two Chinese icebreaker research vessels and a cargo ship set sail on Wednesday for the Antarctic with more than 460 personnel on board to help complete construction of China's fifth station on the world's southernmost continent.China's biggest flotilla of research vessels deployed to the Antarctic will focus on building the station on the rocky, windswept Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea, a deep Southern Ocean bay named after a 19th century British explorer.Work on the first Chinese station in the Pacific sector began in 2018.

16 Oct 2023

US Issues Draft RFP for New Antarctic Research Vessel

Rendering of an Antarctic Research Vessel. (Image: NSF, illustrated by Gibbs & Cox, a Leidos Company)

The U.S.' National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a draft request for proposal (RFP) for its Antarctic Research Vessel (ARV) Integrator requirement.According to NSF, the draft represents a functionally complete RFP with sections A through M, released to provide transparency and early exposure for what is a robust requirement.NSF said it seeks feedback from industry on the whole of the RFP, be that technical or contractual requirements, instructions to offerors and evaluation criteria, or small business engagement.

01 May 2023

Australia Readies New Icebreaker After Repairs

Credit: Peter Harmsen, AAD

Australia’s icebreaker RSV Nuyina has been conducting sea trials in Hobart’s River Derwent as part of familiarization exercises with TasPorts pilots after returning from Singapore for repairs.The 160-meter vessel was built by Damen Shipyards in Romania and delivered in October 2021. In Singapore, issues identified with couplings that connect the propulsion shafts with the clutches were rectified under warranty.Nuyina will now depart Hobart for Macquarie Island research station in early May for cargo delivery and science support.

13 Jan 2023

What Does Climate Change Mean for Extreme Waves?

© TravisPhotoWorks / Adobe Stock

In 80% of the world, we don’t really know.Across much of the world’s oceans, waves are getting bigger. In the Southern Ocean, where storm-driven swell can propagate halfway across the world to California, the average wave has grown about 20cm in the past 30 years.These changes are part of climate change, and are likely to continue well into the future. If you’re making long-term plans near the sea – like building ships, or constructing flood defenses in coastal cities – you need more detail about how big those waves are going to get.In a study published this week in Science Advances…

23 Dec 2022

Polar POD Project Enters Shipyard Construction Phase in France

Illustration Polar POD © N. Gagnon

Ifremer, Jean-Louis Etienne and the entire Polar POD team announced its construction by the Piriou shipyards in association with 3C Metal, under the direction of the project owner, Ifremer. The scientific program of this international oceanographic "station" is being overseen by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS), in partnership with the French National Centre for Space Studies (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales…

15 Dec 2022

Sanford Orders Fishing Vessel from Damen Maaskant

(Image: Damen Shipyards Group)

Dutch shipbuilder Damen Maaskant said it has signed a contract with New Zealand based seafood company Sanford Limited for the design and build of a new scampi vessel for operations in the Southern Ocean.The vessel, based on the Damen Sea Fisher 3210 will be built to the latest standards in terms of sustainability, comfort and safety, the shipbuilder said. The unique design was created as a result of cooperation between Sanford and the management and technical teams of Damen Shipyards…

08 Dec 2022

New Zealand Navy Idles Ships as Labor Crisis Hits

(Photo: New Zealand Defence Force)

Three of New Zealand’s nine naval ships are sitting idle in port as higher civilian salaries lure personnel out of the military, the country’s Defence Force said on Wednesday, even as tensions in the Pacific rise between China and the U.S. and its allies.The HMNZS Wellington, an offshore patrol vessel, headed back to New Zealand early from what was meant to be a three-month deployment in the Pacific and was taken out of operation in November because of shortages, the New Zealand Defence Force said.The Wellington is the third ship to be put into “care and custody”…

08 Apr 2022

The Ship that Found Antarctica’s Endurance Wreck is Vital for Climate Science

(Photo: Saunders Carmichael-Brown / Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust)

It was 1914 when the English explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton set sail on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition aboard a ship called Endurance. It was an ill-fated journey: the ship got trapped in the ice and eventually crushed by pack ice in 1915. It sank to the bottom of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. (Shackleton and his entire crew survived the ordeal by escaping in smaller boats.)It was difficult to believe that the Endurance might ever be found. The icy Weddell Sea is inhospitable and the wreck lay in more than 3000 metres of water.

22 Mar 2022

New Zealand Suspends Antarctic Patrol Ship Project

(Photo: New Zealand Ministry of Defense)

New Zealand’s Ministry of Defense said it has suspended plans to build an Antarctic and Southern Ocean patrol vessel because planned spending is being reassessed due to the impact on the government’s budget of costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.The Ministry of Defense in mid-2021 issued a request for information on the cost and potential design of a Southern Patrol Ocean Vessel, reinforced to cope with ice.

24 Dec 2021

Australia’s New Antarctic Icebreaker Begins First Voyage

(Photo: Pete Harmsen / AAD)

Australia’s new Antarctic icebreaker RSV Nuyina departed Hobart Thursday on its first voyage south.There are 67 expeditioners and crew onboard for the five week voyage to refuel Casey research station and transport helicopters to Davis station.They will also undertake marine science commissioning including tests of the acoustic instruments mounted on the hull and drop keels, and deploying the CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) sampler.The CTD is the workhorse of oceanography research…

30 Sep 2021

World First: Saildrone Captures Video from inside a Cat 4 Hurricane

NOAA and Saildrone Inc. are piloting five specially designed saildrones in the Atlantic Ocean to gather data around the clock to help understand the physical processes of hurricanes. Photo courtesy Saildrone

Saildrone Inc. and NOAA have released the first video footage gathered by an uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) from inside a major hurricane barreling across the Atlantic Ocean.The Saildrone Explorer SD 1045 was directed into the midst of Hurricane Sam, a category 4 hurricane. SD1045 is battling 50 ft. waves and winds of more than 120 mph to collect scientific data, while giving a new view of one of earth’s most destructive forces.Equipped with a specially designed “hurricane wing…

08 Sep 2021

Australia’s New Icebreaker Begins Journey Home

(Photo: Serco)

Australia’s new icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, has begun its 24,000-kilometer voyage from the Netherlands to its new home port of Hobart. The vessel will be the main lifeline to Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research stations and the central platform of the Australian Antarctic Division's Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientific research.Construction of the ship commenced at Damen’s Galați shipyard in Romania in May 2017, and the vessel was floated out in September 2018 prior to its scheduled arrival at its home port Hobart in 2020.

31 May 2021

Oceanteam, Bourbon Sell Construction Support Vessel

Oceanteam and Bourbon have signed a deal to sell their jointly owned construction support vessel Bourbon Oceanteam 101 to an unnamed buyer."The sellers and undisclosed buyers have entered into an NSF agreement for the sale of the vessel, the delivery of which will take place in July 2021," Oceanteam said.This is the joint venture's second recent offshore construction vessel sale, following the sale of its construction support vessel Southern Ocean to Boskalis, completed in late April.Keesjan Cordia, Oceanteam's Chairman of the Board said: "Following the sale of CSV Southern Ocean in April 2021 this sale is another significant and final milestone transitioning away from the conventional offshore shipping industry."The sale of the assets will relieve Oceanteam from its liabilities…

05 May 2021

Tech File: Aussie Bronze Pump Upgrade

The Aussie GMP B3XR-A bronze pump was a snug fit after the old cast iron Stalker was “deep sixed”. Photo courtesy Aussie Pumps

When an old Stalker cast iron pump failed on Petuna Endeavour in the Southern Ocean, there was an urgent requirement for some fast action. The failed pump was replaced by an Aussie GMP model B3XR-A 5.5kw 3-in. NiAl bronze pump that fitted into the application area like a glove.The pump produces 1400 lpm flow and offers a maximum head of up to 26m. The 5.5kw motor means there’s loads of power to drive it and the pump, self priming in design, will draft water through a vertical…

29 Apr 2021

Boskalis Acquires CSV Southern Ocean

Boka Ocean (Photo: Boskalis)

Dutch marine services company Boskalis said it has acquired the Southern Ocean, a large DP2 construction support vessel (CSV) capable of executing a wide range of offshore operations.The 134-meter vessel, which was previously jointly owned by Oceanteam and Bourbon, was recently hired by Boskalis for a two month job in Asia starting in February.It will now be renamed Boka Ocean and deployed on various types of offshore energy projects, such as the installation of array and export cables…

02 Feb 2021

Vard Marine Wins Contract to Design Chilean Navy Vessels

The Vard Amphibious & Military Sea Transport Vessel for the Chilean Navy (Image: Vard Marine)

Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Vard Marine said it has secured a contract from Chilean state-owned ASMAR Shipbuilding & Ship Repair Company to design an Amphibious and Military Transport Vessel for the Chilean Navy.The new ships, to be constructed at the ASMAR shipyard in Talcahuano, Chile, will be capable of operating throughout the Pacific and Southern Ocean with services to include logistic support, search and rescue (SAR) missions, troop and asset movement and deployment, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations.Based on existing Vard Series 7 desig

26 Jan 2021

Ship Repair: Inside the $60m Refit of RV Roger Revelle

The R/V Roger Revelle pictured at sea for a 10-day commissioning and calibration cruise following its midlife refit. Photo Copyright: Scripps Institution of Oceanography

This month MR dives inside the $60 million refit of RV Roger Revelle, a project which leverages a treasure trove of ‘lessons learned’ from recent refits in the academic research vessel fleet and highlights the value of slimming the vendor list.Research vessel (R/V) Roger Revelle is back at work after a midlife refit involving upgrades from top to bottom, bow to stern. The ship is owned by the Office of Naval Research and has been operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego since 1996. It is one of the largest ships in the U.S.

24 Nov 2020

Australia's New Icebreaker Starts Sea Trials

(Photo: Damen)

Australia’s newly completed icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, has left the Netherlands port of Vlissingen to commence trials in the North Sea.The start of the month-long sea trials, which had been pushed back due to delays stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, will be followed by additional weeks of deepwater trials involving the Australian Antarctic Division, ship managers Serco and shipbuilder Damen. Testing of the ship’s speed, noise, propulsion systems, steering, advanced electrical…

20 Oct 2020

Op/Ed: An Antarctic Marine Protected Area is Long Overdue

© Masaya Miura / Adobe Stock

Antarctica, the world’s last true wilderness, has been protected by an international treaty for the last 60 years. But the same isn’t true for most of the ocean surrounding it.Just 5% of the Southern Ocean is protected, leaving biodiversity hotspots exposed to threats from human activity.The Western Antarctic Peninsula, the northernmost part of the continent and one of its most biodiverse regions, is particularly vulnerable. It faces the cumulative threats of commercial krill fishing…

09 Sep 2020

Beca, Vard Marine Join NZ Patrol Vessel Project

Beca Applied Technologies Ltd, with the support of specialist naval architecture company Vard Marine Inc, have been appointed by the New Zealand Ministry of Defense as the Technical Support Partner to the Southern Ocean Patrol Vessel (SOPV) project. Beca and Vard Marine will join the Ministry’s Integrated Project Team providing systems engineering, concept design and technical logistics input for the early stages of the project as the capability is defined and specified.The SOPV project is exploring options for an ice-strengthened offshore patrol vessel for Southern Ocean operations will be navigating the large distance between New Zealand and Antarctica…