Rauma shipyard delivers Antarctic research vessel to South African government
The STX Finland Rauma shipyard has delivered a research and supply vessel S.A. Agulhas II designed for Antarctic conditions to the South African Ministry of the Environment, HELSINGIN SANOMAT reports.
The ship was handed over to its buyer on Wednesday.
The S.A. Agulhas II has been a particularly demanding project for the shipyard. While operating in some of the harshest conditions on the planet the vessel has to perform the duties of four specialist ships. The S.A. Agulhas II has been designed to function simultaneously as a supply, research, passenger, and ice-breaker.
On Friday the ship and its 45-strong South African crew will embark from Rauma on a three-week direct journey to its future home port in Cape Town, where the vessel will operate as a logistics support vessel for the South-African research stations on the Antarctic as well as the Marion and Gough islands.
Winter temperatures at the research stations plunge down to -60 degrees Celsius, and even in the Antarctic summer, temperatures close to -30 degrees are typical. Such conditions put considerable demands on any ships that make the voyage. The S.A. Agulhas II will operate on a triangular route 5,000 kilometres in length.
The distance from Cape Town to the Antarctic alone is 2,000 kilometres.
The Antarctic continent does not belong to any country, but ten countries have research stations there.
The S.A. Agulhas II replaces an older vessel by the same name. This ship has been designed to deliver 100 researchers or passengers, supplies, and food and fuel for months to the research stations.
On its return voyage the vessel will bring back all the waste and refuse produced by the researchers, for international treaties prohibit leaving any rubbish on the Antarctica.
The ship can also accommodate passengers. However, the representatives of the South African Ministry of the Environment and the Maritime Safety Authority, who were following the flag changing ceremony, were unable to estimate how much such a journey might cost.
The tickets will not be sold through travel agencies, and will have to be purchased through the authorities.
The Antarctic houses 95 per cent of all the glaciers on Earth.
Therefore the ship has been equipped with exceptional special features. For one, to prevent heat loss, all the ship’s windows are double-glazed.
For safety reasons the exterior decks of the vessel have been equipped with underfloor heating to prevent them from freezing over.
In addition to all the scientific equipment and the ten different laboratories, the ship also houses a glazed-in viewing tower high above the decks for observing penguins, whales, and icebergs.
At the bottom of the hull there is a hatch, through which a cable winch can lower scientific research equipment to the depth of six kilometres.
The bottom of the vessel also houses a three-metre centreboard or retractable keel, whose purpose is to keep the research probes attached to it away from the air bubbles and turbulent flows around the hull.
The 134-metre long ship can reach an operating speed of 14 knots. Even through half-a-metre thick ice it can still travel at the speed of five knots.
According to the South Africans, the S.A. Agulhas II came with a price tag of EUR 116 million. Its operating costs are in the region of EUR six million per year.
The ship was handed over to its buyer on Wednesday.
The S.A. Agulhas II has been a particularly demanding project for the shipyard. While operating in some of the harshest conditions on the planet the vessel has to perform the duties of four specialist ships. The S.A. Agulhas II has been designed to function simultaneously as a supply, research, passenger, and ice-breaker.
On Friday the ship and its 45-strong South African crew will embark from Rauma on a three-week direct journey to its future home port in Cape Town, where the vessel will operate as a logistics support vessel for the South-African research stations on the Antarctic as well as the Marion and Gough islands.
Winter temperatures at the research stations plunge down to -60 degrees Celsius, and even in the Antarctic summer, temperatures close to -30 degrees are typical. Such conditions put considerable demands on any ships that make the voyage. The S.A. Agulhas II will operate on a triangular route 5,000 kilometres in length.
The distance from Cape Town to the Antarctic alone is 2,000 kilometres.
The Antarctic continent does not belong to any country, but ten countries have research stations there.
The S.A. Agulhas II replaces an older vessel by the same name. This ship has been designed to deliver 100 researchers or passengers, supplies, and food and fuel for months to the research stations.
On its return voyage the vessel will bring back all the waste and refuse produced by the researchers, for international treaties prohibit leaving any rubbish on the Antarctica.
The ship can also accommodate passengers. However, the representatives of the South African Ministry of the Environment and the Maritime Safety Authority, who were following the flag changing ceremony, were unable to estimate how much such a journey might cost.
The tickets will not be sold through travel agencies, and will have to be purchased through the authorities.
The Antarctic houses 95 per cent of all the glaciers on Earth.
Therefore the ship has been equipped with exceptional special features. For one, to prevent heat loss, all the ship’s windows are double-glazed.
For safety reasons the exterior decks of the vessel have been equipped with underfloor heating to prevent them from freezing over.
In addition to all the scientific equipment and the ten different laboratories, the ship also houses a glazed-in viewing tower high above the decks for observing penguins, whales, and icebergs.
At the bottom of the hull there is a hatch, through which a cable winch can lower scientific research equipment to the depth of six kilometres.
The bottom of the vessel also houses a three-metre centreboard or retractable keel, whose purpose is to keep the research probes attached to it away from the air bubbles and turbulent flows around the hull.
The 134-metre long ship can reach an operating speed of 14 knots. Even through half-a-metre thick ice it can still travel at the speed of five knots.
According to the South Africans, the S.A. Agulhas II came with a price tag of EUR 116 million. Its operating costs are in the region of EUR six million per year.