RV ''Falkor (too)'' is an

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics ...

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

being refit in 2021–2022 from the former multi-role offshore support vessel MS ''Polar Queen''. The ship was purchased by the Schmidt Ocean Institute in March 2021. It replaced the RV ''Falkor''.

Building and Delivery

The Norwegian company Sea4 AS had ordered two new vessels to be built by the C.N.P. Freire shipyard in

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the ...

(Spain) in November 2007. The design for the two vessels was developed by the Norwegian naval architect and ship design company Skipsteknisk AS and called ST-254L CD. It is similar to the previously developed design ST-253, which was realized as hull number 701 at the Freire Shipyard as well. This shorter vessel- the ''Volstad Surveyor'' was later converted at the Damen shipyard and became the ''OceanXplorer 1''. It was scheduled that the vessels with the hull numbers 702 and 703 would be delivered in February and August 2010 and operated by the two subsidiaries Sea4 I Shipping Ltd. and Sea 4 II Shipping Ltd. The keel for hull number 703 - the later ''Polar Queen'' was laid at the 11. December 2008. However, there was a six months delay due to the global financial crisis. In September 2009, it was announced that GC Rieber Shipping had taken over Sea4's subsidiaries for a total of approximately 800 million NOK because at that time, no chartering agreements had been entered into for the newbuildings. Finally the ''Polar Queen'' was taken by GC Rieber at the 6. October 2011.

Service

GC Rieber had signed a two-year charter contract with Oceanografía S.A. de C.V. for the Mexican state oil company

Pemex Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company managed and operated by the Mexican government. It was formed in 1938 by nationalization and expr ...

, starting Offshore services in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...

in November 2011. But before the contract expired a

Maritime lien The maritime lien is one of three ''in rem'' claims capable of being brought under UK Admiralty Law. Whilst being a common law instrument, it has been codified under s.21(3) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 along with s.21(2) and s.21(4), its statut ...

arose between GC Rieber and Oceanografía. As a consequence a federal judge in Texas has told a United States Marshal to

seize Seize may refer to: * Seisin, legal possession * Seizing, a class of knots used to semi-permanently bind together two ropes * Seize (band), a British electronic band *The jamming of machine parts against each other, usually due to insufficient lu ...

the vessel. Starting in October 2012, the ''Polar Queen'' was chartered by Boa Marine Services Inc. which was based in Houston TX and a subsidiary of the Norwegian BOA Offshore AS. The charter contract was later prolonged beyond April 2015. From April to December 2017, the ship was used to transport equipment and personnel for the construction of the Nordsee One offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. Polar Queen and Forties Unity

From 2018 to 2020, the ''Polar Queen'' was used for so called walk-to-work and accommodation services in the North Sea during the summer months. An active heave compensated gangway mounted on board the vessel, allowed technicians and engineers to walk to Normally unmanned installations, e.g. the offshore riser platform ''Forties Unity'' in the Forties Oil Field, to perform scheduled maintenance or repairs. When their shift was over, they could walk back to the vessel where they had their accommodation.

Sale and refit

GC Rieber announced the sale of the vessel on 23. February 2021 and the Schmidt Ocean Institute confirmed the purchase one month later. The vessel sailed to Spain and arrived at Vigo in April 2021 to commence the refit. * RV ''Falkor'' * ROV SuBastian

References

External links

* {{external media , width = 300px , align = right , video1
"Shipyard to Sea - Falkor (too) - Episode 1"
Schmidt Ocean Institute; March, 2022; 3:56

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

video clip , video2
"Shipyard to Sea - Falkor (too) - Episode 2 - Preparing the ROV"
Schmidt Ocean Institute; March, 2022; 4:01

video clip , video3
"Shipyard to Sea - Falkor (too) - Episode 3 - Aft Deck and Crane"
Schmidt Ocean Institute; May, 2022; 3:10

video clip , video4
"Shipyard to Sea - Falkor (too) - Episode 4 - The Gondola"
Schmidt Ocean Institute; May, 2022; 3:39

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"Shipyard to Sea - Falkor (too) - Episode 5 - Voith Schneider Propellers"
Schmidt Ocean Institute; August, 2022; 3:03

video clip Research vessels Research vessels of the United States 2011 ships Ships built in Vigo, Spain