Rolls-Royce in £30m deal with shipyard to design polar research ship

BIRKENHEAD shipyard Cammell Laird has appointed Rolls-Royce to design and equip research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough in a £30m deal.

The UK’s polar research vessel, when built, will be one of the most advanced scientific maritime ships ever constructed.

Rolls-Royce, which employs more than 1,000 people at Barnoldswick in Lancashire, will also supply machinery and equipment for the ship.

The 128-metre long ship will be built at the massive modular construction hall at Cammell Laird’s site in Birkenhead.

Cammell Laird, which offers a wide range of marine and heavy engineering services including shipbuilding, beat off competition from around the world, to win the deal and keep the work in the UK.

The New Polar Research Vessel (NPRV) is being commissioned by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for operation by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

The £20m Government investment secures the UK’s position as a world leader in polar research and provides a major boost to shipbuilding in the North West.

The project is the biggest commercial shipbuilding contract in Britain and one of the biggest for more than a generation.

When it enters service in 2019, the ship’s main function will be to carry out oceanographic and other scientific work in both the Antarctic and Arctic as well as transporting supplies to Antarctic research stations.

Cammell Laird’s requirements for Rolls-Royce to meet when designing the vessel included: Polar Code 4 ice class, a high endurance factor, with the capacity to be self-sufficient in fuel and supplies on voyages up to 19,000 nautical miles, space for a total of 90 people and a large cargo capacity.
 
The vessel is also designed to generate very low levels of underwater radiated noise and minimise the risk of pollution. Onboard laboratories will allow the prompt analysis of samples.