Ireland’s new multipurpose research vessel has arrived in the west coast port of Galway ready to embark on her initial survey assignment.
Constructed at the Vigo yard of Astilleros Armon, in northern Spain, the 53m Tom Crean will be officially commissioned during the autumn, to replace the 32m Celtic Voyager, introduced 25 years ago as Ireland’s first purpose-built research ship.
Designed by the Norwegian consultancy Skipsteknisk, Tom Crean has been equipped to undertake a wide range of research activities as well as other tasks, on behalf of the Galway-based Marine Institute (Foras na Mara), other state agencies and universities. The duty list includes expanded fisheries surveys, seabed mapping and marine spatial planning, climate change-related studies, oceanographic work and environmental monitoring, as well as the maintenance and deployment of weather buoys, observational infrastructure, and remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles (/AUVs).
The Marine Institute is under the aegis of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, which funded the vessel’s construction. Powered by a diesel-electric installation, the vessel is acoustically silent, meeting the stringent ICES 209 standard governing underwater noise radiation, to ensure unfettered collection of high quality data.
She will be operated throughout Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), having been tailored to the harsh conditions typically encountered in the waters of the North East Atlantic. The ship offers a 21-day endurance factor, and promises high productivity on the basis of a planned 300 days at sea each year.
Tom Crean draws power from two 1,350kW main generator sets and one 400kW aggregate, delivering energy to a single electric propulsion motor rated for a maximum 2,000kW. In manoeuvring and position holding to DP1 standard, recourse is made to a 780kW bow thruster and 400kW stern tunnel thruster. A shore power connection has been provided so as to obviate use of gensets when alongside in port.
The vessel is fitted with a 180-degree A-frame for load handling and the launch and recovery of special equipment, and the facility for /AUV units enables ocean exploration to a depth of 3,000m. The working deck can accommodate three 20ft containers. A heave compensation system allows for research continuity in high swell conditions, and the extensive suite of scientific and acoustic equipment meets the broad oceanographic, hydrographic, and geological research, meteorological monitoring and fisheries survey agenda.
Comprehensive management has been entrusted to P&O Maritime Logistics, which has had the institute’s ships under its wing since 2006. P&O’s husbandry contract for the Tom Crean embraces all operational and technical services, including crewing, instrumentation and IT support.
The new vessel is named after the renowned seaman and explorer from Kerry who was involved in three major expeditions to the Antarctic during the early 1900s.
Shipbuilding contractor Armon maintains a diversified newbuild production throughout its yards in north and northwest Spain, and has a track record in the research vessel segment. The company’s current workload includes a 36m oceanographic ship for New Zealand, also to a Skipsteknisk design, plus research vessels for Iceland and Spain. Capacity is set to be boosted through the acquisition of the Barreras yard in Vigo.
