Germany’s 38 year old research icebreaker ''Polarstern'', which has just spent a year locked in the Arctic ice, suffered much less damage than had been expected, writes Tom Todd.
Marco Graudenz, a spokesman for Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven (LWB), spoke to Maritime Journal after the veteran polar research ship ended a length repair, maintenence and refurbishment stay at the German yard. “The work went well. Little had to be done that was not scheduled“, he said.
Polarstern, which has now left Germany for new work in Antarctica, docked for its latest checkover in October after returning from the Arctic. It was the ship’s 71st visit since entering service in 1982. It operates for the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven .
The LWB docking followed the historic international MOSAIC expedition. For more than a year the 12,614gt Polarstern was locked in the Arctic pack ice and drifted close to the North Pole collecting scientific data on climate change.
Speaking after the 118 x 25m multi-purpose ship left LWB’s Kaiserdock 11, Graudenz said, “Polarstern was in very good condition following its year in the ice“. He also said seatrials were very short and lasted only two days – much shorter than originally expected.
“The number of scratches on the hull could be counted on two hands“, Graudenz continued noting that “three years ago we blasted and painted the underwater hull and it still looked almost like new“.
However he did report some damage to propeller blades, which had now been exchanged. Most of the heating units installed to keep the ship’s interior from icing up “were for the main broken and had to be replaced“. Some wooden deck planking had also been displaced and needed relaying, Graudenz reported.
A new invitation to tender for the building of a successor to the ageing Polarstern is now expected to be announced in the New Year. Reports have said Polarstern II could be ordered as early as 2022 for delivery around 2026/27, when the current Polarstern is about 45.
However the existing ship is not expected to leave service for some time yet. “We are hoping for a further docking next year, but no contract has been signed as yet”, Marco Graudenz told Maritime Journal.
