Argentina to Raise Antarctic Profile

The project stems from 2014, and was suspended during the administration of the country’s former president Mauricio Macri. The revival of the scheme reflects Argentina’s renewed determination to strengthen its presence in Antarctica.

Engaged in November 2014, Aker Arctic Technology of Finland had completed the concept design by the end of February 2015. At the time, a Chinese shipyard had been in the running for the build programme. Now, Aker Arctic and Tandanor will work together on the new and more complex stage in bringing the project to realisation on home shores.

The vessel will form part of the Argentine Navy, and will undertake a transport and replenishment role for Argentina’s multiplicity of Antarctic stations and will also provide a multi-disciplinary research platform. The draft design has a length overall of 131.5m, breadth of 23.6m, draft of 8m, and Polar Code 4 (PC4) capability, with a range of 15,000 nautical miles using two main engines at 85% power.

The ice reinforcement, engineering and propulsion arrangements would allow navigation far into the Weddell Sea’s Antarctic waters, and permit the ship to cover the country’s entire Antarctic logistics system. The power and propulsion specification calls for an open water speed of 16 knots and the ability to maintain continuous passage through ice of 1m thickness at up to two knots.

Re-supply duties will be maintained in concert with the existing polar vessel, the 121m ARA Almirante Irizar, which has undergone lengthy reconstruction and upgrading at the Tandanor yard after surviving a devastating fire in 2007. The ship originally dates from 1978, as a product of the former Wartsila Marine yard in Helsinki.

It is understood that the execution and nature of the rebuild, entailing the acquisition of new skills and technologies, markedly heightened the case for entrusting the new vessel to the domestic shipbuilding industry. Located near Buenos Aires, the Syncrolift-equipped Tandanor facility forms part of the Argentine Naval Industrial Complex (CINAR).

Tandanor will also be involved in work on the renewal of one of Argentina’s permanent bases on the “white continent”. Furthermore, the country is investing in the expansion of Ushuaia, at the southernmost tip of the mainland, where the foundation stone was recently laid for a new naval and logistics facility to serve Argentina’s strategy for the South Atlantic and Antarctica.