History | |
---|---|
Wallis and Futuna | |
Name | Le Commandant Charcot |
Namesake | Jean-Baptiste Charcot |
Owner | Compagnie du Ponant |
Port of registry | Mata Utu |
Builder | |
Cost | NOK 2.7 billion [4] |
Laid down | December 2018 [3] |
Launched | March 2020 [2] |
Completed | July 2021 [1] |
Identification | IMO number: 9846249 |
Status | In service |
General characteristics [5] | |
Type | Cruise ship |
Tonnage | 31,283 GT |
Length | 150 m (492 ft) |
Beam | 28.3 m (93 ft) |
Draught | 10 m (33 ft) |
Ice class | Polar Class 2 |
Installed power | |
Propulsion | Diesel-electric; two ABB Azipod propulsion units (2 × 17 MW) [6] |
Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) (open water) |
Capacity | 270 passengers in 135 cabins [4] |
Crew | 187 |
Le Commandant Charcot is an icebreaking cruise ship operated by the French shipping company Compagnie du Ponant. Named after the French polar scientist Jean-Baptiste Charcot, the vessel was built at Vard Tulcea shipyard in Romania, from where she was moved to Søviknes for final outfitting and delivery in 2021. [5]
Le Commandant Charcot is a Polar Class 2 rated icebreaking vessel capable of reaching remote polar destinations such as the Geographic North Pole. She features a hybrid power plant powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 5 MWh electric batteries, capable of briefly driving the ship without engines running. [4] [9]
The ship was launched in March 2020 [2] and left the yard in Romania on 29 March, heading for Norway. She arrived at VARD shipyard in Søvik, Haram, Norway on 28 April 2020. [10] In June 2021, she was in the Arctic for the first time during sea trials. [11]
After delivery on 29 July 2021, [12] Le Commandant Charcot sailed from mainland Norway to Svalbard and from there to the Geographic North Pole, where she arrived on 6 September 2021. [13]
In December 2021, the ship went on a 16-day exploration cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Weddell Sea and Antarctic Peninsula, allowing passengers to experience a total solar eclipse from the Weddell Sea ice pack. [14] [15]
In February 2022, Le Commandant Charcot collaborated with the British Antarctic Survey research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough in Antarctica. The cruise ship, capable of breaking much thicker ice, created a channel for the research vessel in second-year ice covered with thick layer of snow in Stange Sound. [16]
In late July 2022, Le Commandant Charcot accompanied the Norwegian polar research vessel Kronprins Haakon to the North Pole. [17]
History | |
---|---|
Wallis and Futuna | |
Name | Le Commandant Charcot |
Namesake | Jean-Baptiste Charcot |
Owner | Compagnie du Ponant |
Port of registry | Mata Utu |
Builder | |
Cost | NOK 2.7 billion [4] |
Laid down | December 2018 [3] |
Launched | March 2020 [2] |
Completed | July 2021 [1] |
Identification | IMO number: 9846249 |
Status | In service |
General characteristics [5] | |
Type | Cruise ship |
Tonnage | 31,283 GT |
Length | 150 m (492 ft) |
Beam | 28.3 m (93 ft) |
Draught | 10 m (33 ft) |
Ice class | Polar Class 2 |
Installed power | |
Propulsion | Diesel-electric; two ABB Azipod propulsion units (2 × 17 MW) [6] |
Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) (open water) |
Capacity | 270 passengers in 135 cabins [4] |
Crew | 187 |
Le Commandant Charcot is an icebreaking cruise ship operated by the French shipping company Compagnie du Ponant. Named after the French polar scientist Jean-Baptiste Charcot, the vessel was built at Vard Tulcea shipyard in Romania, from where she was moved to Søviknes for final outfitting and delivery in 2021. [5]
Le Commandant Charcot is a Polar Class 2 rated icebreaking vessel capable of reaching remote polar destinations such as the Geographic North Pole. She features a hybrid power plant powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 5 MWh electric batteries, capable of briefly driving the ship without engines running. [4] [9]
The ship was launched in March 2020 [2] and left the yard in Romania on 29 March, heading for Norway. She arrived at VARD shipyard in Søvik, Haram, Norway on 28 April 2020. [10] In June 2021, she was in the Arctic for the first time during sea trials. [11]
After delivery on 29 July 2021, [12] Le Commandant Charcot sailed from mainland Norway to Svalbard and from there to the Geographic North Pole, where she arrived on 6 September 2021. [13]
In December 2021, the ship went on a 16-day exploration cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Weddell Sea and Antarctic Peninsula, allowing passengers to experience a total solar eclipse from the Weddell Sea ice pack. [14] [15]
In February 2022, Le Commandant Charcot collaborated with the British Antarctic Survey research vessel RRS Sir David Attenborough in Antarctica. The cruise ship, capable of breaking much thicker ice, created a channel for the research vessel in second-year ice covered with thick layer of snow in Stange Sound. [16]
In late July 2022, Le Commandant Charcot accompanied the Norwegian polar research vessel Kronprins Haakon to the North Pole. [17]