German yard to build Greenpeace flagship

The new ship will be completed in time for Greenpeace’s 40th anniversary in 2011. The environment protection group’s executive director Gerd Leipold said it will have ‘the very latest in green technology’ and noted it was the first time Greenpeace had ordered a purpose built newbuilding rather than refurbishing an existing ship.

The first steel for Rainbow Warrior III will be cut next year and it will be built primarily as a sailing ship with 1,290 sq/m of sail. However, it will also have diesel-electric engine propulsion producing 10 knots from just 300 kW of power. The design of the mast and the positioning of the sails have been optimised for efficiency and the hull has been designed for maximum fuel conservation. Heat created by the generators will be re-used to heat water and for engine pre-heating.

Spokeswoman Dietlind Lerner told MJ the cost of the ship included design by Gerard Dijkstra & Partner in Amsterdam. To be GL classed with a Green Passport, the vessel will fly the Dutch flag. It will be 11m wide and of 838gt, drawing a maximum of 5.15m.

The sail rig will consist of an ‘A’ frame mast with five sails as well as the Caterpillar main and auxiliary engines to provide a speed of 15 knots. According to Lerner, the ship will feature a helicopter landing pad, accommodate 32 people and have a cruising range of 4,500 nautical miles.

The newbuild will replaces the 52 year old, 55m long existing flagship Rainbow Warrior 11, which Leipold said ‘has been a great ship, with a proud record of effecting environmental change. But even great warriors need to be retired.’

By Tom Todd