Norwegian Research Ship Launched at Gondan

Gondan Shipyard in Figueras today launched a new fishery and oceanographic research vessel to be operated by the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research of Bergen under a program led by NORAD, FAO and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The contract for the construction of this oceanographic vessel was signed in March last year and was awarded to Gondan Shipyard through an international tender, in which it competed with eight shipyards in Norway and one in Spain.

Designed by the company Skipsteknisk, the new vessel is 74.5 meters LOA and 17.4 beam, the vessel will mainly operate in tropic and sub-tropic areas in developing countries. The builder said cutting edge technology has been used for the vessel to develop activities focused on marine ecosystem studies with emphasis on fish stock assessment. In addition, the vessel will be used for: data collection for studies and understanding of climate change effects, mapping of marine biodiversity, measurements of CO2 and the resulting acidification of the oceans, measurements of oxygen and de-oxygenation of the oceans and studies of pollution.

The vessel is being outfitted according to shipbuilding standards for modern noise reduced research vessels, in compliance with the strict requirements of ICES 209.