Research vessel order

Ulstein has signed a contract for a 92m Ulstein SX134 design vessel to be built by Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co in South Korea (Hanjin) for the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM).

“Ulstein is very proud to be awarded this contract with Hanjin,” said Lars Ståle Skoge, commercial director at Ulstein Design & Solutions AS.

What’s included?

The vessel will include a variety of installed equipment, such as a 3D/4D seismic 8-streamer system, high resolution 2D/3D seismic P-cable system, a multicomponent OBN acquisition system, a Marine Gravity and Magnetic system, Multibeam and Single beam echosounders and auxiliary equipment for in sea acoustic sounding systems.

Additionally, the vessel will incorporate a Deep Sea Chirp Sub-bottom profiler, an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and a High profile Underwater Positioning system. Sediment samplers and geochemical analysis equipment are available for the onboard researchers.

The X-BOW hull line design leads to reduction in slamming and vibrations. This design increases the operability of the vessel, reduces speed loss and will have an improved effect on recording of data when in operation. The design also ensures efficient operations with less fuel consumption and less environmental footprint.

In 1996, Ulstein’ s own shipyard Ulstein Verft delivered its vessel no 246, Tamhae II, for KIGAM.

The vessel could be used for work involving seismic streamer cables, seismic bottom nodes, seismic high-resolution seafloor mapping, seafloor survey and sediment sampling.

By Rebecca Jeffrey