L'Astrolabe (2016 icebreaker)

L'Astrolabe is a French icebreaker that will be used to bring personnel and supplies to the Dumont d'Urville Station in Antarctica. The vessel, currently under construction, is expected to enter service in 2017. Upon completition, she will replace the 1986-built L'Astrolabe.

Development and construction

In June 2015, the Ministry of Overseas France awarded the construction of a 50 million euro polar logistics vessel to the Chantiers Piriou from Concarneau. The vessel, which will be based on a concept developed by French naval architecture company Marine Assistance, will combine the functions of the two existing French ships it will replace: the 1966-built patrol vessel L'Albatros and the 1986-built icebreaker L'Astrolabe. The new vessel will be owned and operated by the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF) administration, the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV) and the French Navy.^[1]

Since Chantiers Piriou had no experience of building an ice-going vessel, the French shipyard joined forces with the Finnish engineering company Aker Arctic in order to be able to bid against foreign shipyards such as the German Nordic Yards.^[1] Later, Aker Arctic was also chosen to carry out basic design and ice model testing for the vessel.^[2]

Since the Chantiers Piriou shipyard is fully booked with ship orders from the French Navy, the construction of the hull was subcontracted to a Polish shipyard. The production of the vessel began on 16 December at CRIST in Gdynia, Poland. The unfinished vessel will be towed to France for outfitting before the end of the year. The ship, which was given the name L'Astrolabe after her predecessor, is scheduled to be delivered in the summer of 2017.^[3]

Career

L'Astrolabe will be deployed in the Indian Ocean in 2017 and will carry out her first resupply mission to the Dumont d'Urville Station in Adélie Land, Antarctica, in 2018.^[1]

Design

The new polar logistics vessel will be 72 metres (236 ft) long and 16 metres (52 ft), making the new L'Astrolabe somewhat larger than her 66-metre (217 ft) predecessor. The vessel can carry 1,200 tons of cargo and has accommodation for up to 60 personnel, which includes the crew of the vessel. She can also accommodate a helicopter belowdecks.^{[4] [5]}

L'Astrolabe will be powered by four Wärtsilä 20 series diesel engines driving two stainless steel controllable pitch propellers. The vessel will also be fitted with selective catalytic reduction units to reduce NO_x emissions and comply with IMO Tier III emission regulations.^[6]

The polar logistics vessel will be classified by Bureau Veritas. Her ice class, Icebreaker 5, means that she is allowed to operate independently in medium first-year-ice up to 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) thick during the summer and autumn and up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) thick during the winter and spring. She is also allowed to ram ice at a speed of 5.5 knots (10.2 km/h; 6.3 mph), but the ramming shall not be repeated if the ice does not fail at the first attempt.^[7]

References