AFTER 31 years of service as SA’s polar research vessel, the SA Agulhas is due for retirement by 2012, it was announced in Cape Town yesterday.
The announcement was made at the V&A Waterfront when the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism signed a deal with Finnish shipbuilder STX Europe to build a à 116,25m (R1,3bn) replacement.
The department’s chief director of research for Antarctica and islands, Dr Johan Augustyn, said the new vessel was crucial for SA to maintain its strategic presence in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. It could also provide income for the country later.
“We are looking at our future role in researching climate change in the Southern and Indian oceans. We wanted a ship with more laboratories that can accommodate other branches of science. We are hoping, for example, to do marine biology research and coring work with the new vessel,” he said.
The new vessel will be “one of a kind” designed to carry cargo, passengers, helicopters and fuel, while serving as a research platform for the three South African National Antarctic Programme stations in Marion Island, Gough Island and Antarctica. The vessel’s 800m² laboratories in extent, are expected to attract foreign scientists and help rebuild SA’s deep sea oceanography capacity.
“It will be able to break through thicker ice at higher speeds (than the Agulhas), which will extend our Antarctic season by about a month. It will be a more effective tool and not cost much more to maintain than the Agulhas as it has three times as much power while being more fuel-efficient,” Augustyn said.
Marine and Coastal Management project manager Alan Robertson said the next step in the vessel’s construction was its detailed engineering before the first steel would be cut in September next year.
The Agulhas is an ice-strengthened research vessel built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1977 and has spent most of her time serving SA’s research bases in the Antarctic.
The department’s Henry Valentine said the Agulhas was put through a rigorous test of her seafaring condition last year and “passed with flying colours”.
“We have great confidence that the ship will be able to operate well beyond the new vessel’s delivery date,” he said. After the department takes delivery of the new vessel in April 2012, the Agulhas will be sold.
STX’s shipyard director, Timo Suistio, said it was the Finnish company’s first shipbuilding project for a South African client and part of its long-term strategy to break into the African market.
“O ur will is to make this vessel into a postcard of our ability and use it as a reference for future jobs,” he said.
At a price of more than R1bn, the ship will smooth the trade imbalance between SA and Finland which now stands at 5:1 in Finland’s favour.
Marine and Coastal Management deputy director-general Dr Monde Mayekiso said the vessel had not yet been given a name.