Kongsberg Systems for NERC Research Vessel

Kongsberg Maritime has signed a contract with Freire Shipyard for the supply of a comprehensive integrated systems package to be installed aboard an advanced research vessel currently under construction at the Spanish shipbuilders Vigo yard for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The new vessel is being built as a high-technology replacement for NERC's RRS Discovery, which has been in service since the early 1960s. The new 100m vessel, also called RRS Discovery has been designed by Skipsteknisk AS in Norway and is due for completion summer 2013, at a total project cost of GBP75 million. Within the scientific community, the new RRS Discovery is seen as state-of-the-art in terms of design and functionality.

A suite of hydroacoustic instruments accounts for approx. 80% of the Kongsberg Maritime systems destined for the new RRS Discovery. In close co-operation with NERC, high levels of integration have been developed across the entire package, which includes:
• Hydrography - Deepwater Multibeam EM122 (1ºx1º), medium-water wideband Multibeam EM710 (2ºx2º), single-beam EA600 and for geophysics applications, sub-bottom profiler SBP120
• Fishery Research - Simrad EK60 scientific multi-frequency echosounder
• Integration - K-Sync synchronizing unit
• Navigation - K- Bridge Integrated Bridge System
• Dynamic Positioning - K-Pos and C-Joy with DP1 (AM)
• Video - Marine CCTV system
Kongsberg Maritime has also supplied hydrography systems to another research vessel in production at Freire Shipyard, for owner Qatar University. Kongsberg Maritime also provided system packages for NERC's RRS James Cook, the T-AGS 60 class survey vessels operated by the US Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), and in 2010 the National Science Foundation's Alaska Region Research Vessel (ARRV), R/V Sikuliaq and the US Coast Guard's high-latitude research dedicated icebreaker, Healy.