Kroeger bags contract for sophisticated research ship

The multi-purpose ship, drawing 7m and with five central laboratories, is for delivery Summer 2004 to German authorities for service along the east German Baltic coast. Kroeger has, in the past built Atair, Wega and Komet for the German authorities. The future owner of the 6,043dwt, ship will be the east German federal state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern (MV) and her operational base will be Rostock-Warnemuende.

However she is the latest in a new generation of research ships going into service as part of a consolidated joint effort by the Berlin Government and German coastal states – the first of its kind.

Joining hands to provide successors for older research ships now being replaced are not only Berlin and MV but also Hamburg, Bremen and Schleswig Holstein. Just how advanced Maria S. Merian will be is reflected in a ? 6 million order with STN Atlas Marine Electronics for the 15 knot vessel’s two 1900 kw podded drives, a Schottel pump jet and other electronics.

MJ Information No: 17509