Polarstern revamps as replacement tipped

Work on the multi-purpose 118x25m, 38-year-old Polarstern is being carried out between now and early December at Lloyd Werft (LWB) with sea trials following.

The government-owned ship has been a regular visitor to the yard since it went into service in 1982 and has now docked there 71 times. LWB MD Rüdiger Pallentin noted “a very special relationship” between ship and yard with generations of workers looking after Polarstern.

The ship’s latest stay follows its spectacular international MOSAIC expedition to the Arctic for operators Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven. For more than a year the 12, 614gt Polarstern was locked in the pack ice and drifted north collecting scientific data on climate change.

At Lloyd Werft, MOSAIC equipment was initially being unloaded and new equipment installed for Polarstern’s next mission. It sails to the Antarctic in December to conduct further research and re-supply the German Polar Research Station Neumayer III.

During the latest docking in LWB’s Kaiserdock 11, the ship’s stabilisers are being overhauled and fitted with improved control systems. Polarstern’s bow thruster and its integral parts are being completely dismantled to allow overhaul of the vibration dampener and the installation of a new dampener framework. LWB gave no further details.

No mention was made this time of work routinely carried out during LWB visits on the ship’s four main Klöckner-Deutz RBV 8M540 engines of total 14,120kW developing 15.5 knots or its Renk gearings and MAK auxiliaries – an indication that they have stood up well to the ship’s rigorous winter MOSAIC ordeal.

However, a number of other unspecified modernisation and maintenance jobs were also listed by LWB, including the overhaul of all water and oil pumps and air-intake installations and the renovation of 20 cabins and baths.

According to reliable German reports meanwhile, a new invitation to tender for the building of Polarstern’s long-awaited successor Polarstern II is now expected to be announced early in the new year.

Early this year the German Government cancelled an existing tender invitation and promised a new one after reports said the original 2015 invitation no longer covered current technological demands for a long-term, efficient and economic newbuild.

An AWI source was quoted as saying Polarstern II, possibly now costing more than EUR800 million, could be ordered as early as 2022 for service from 2026/7 – by which time the existing Polarstern will be 50 years old.

The source said Polarstern II features could include hybrid diesel-electric propulsion, integrated under-water robotic systems and several helicopter landing options.