Rapp wins in China
Norwegian-headquartered Rapp Marine has got not one, but two new Chinese contracts under its belt, both for research vessels.
The Guangzhou contract is for an oceanographic research vessel which is being built for China Geological Survey (GMGS): this ship will be outfitted with labs and workstations to collect the data for analysis by researchers and scientific advisors.
The other research vessel for the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) will be a 122.5m icebreaker – the first to be constructed in China. A research team from PRIC will operate the vessel in the Southern Ocean, with a view to supplying China’s Antarctic Zhongshan Station.
The deck gear is to be developed in Bodø, Norway, which is also where most of the detailed engineering will take place: the rest of the production is to come from Rapp’s 9,100m2 production facilities in Serbia which opened in October 2014 – it’s worth noting the company has no less than 17 locations involved in sales, service and production around the world as well as it’s Norwegian HQ.
“The contracts were awarded in a highly competitive market against strong international competition,” said CEO Helge Vatnehol – including from China’s own home grown marine construction yards. He pointed out Rapp Marine has “extensive experience with these types of deliveries” as well as being able “to offer competitive terms”.
The company certainly does have the background: formally Rapp Hydema it has more than a century of experience, 40 years of which has been spent supplying specialist deck gear to the commercial workboat, offshore and fishing industry.
But research vessels are providing an expanding niche: Mr Vatnehol’s colleague Tove Pettersen added: “Most maritime nations are working on plans to build ocean-going research vessels and we are involved in exciting processes for a number of similar projects.”
By Stevie Knight
