Le Commandant Charcot

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]

History
Wallis and Futuna
NameLe Commandant Charcot
NamesakeJean-Baptiste Charcot
OwnerCompagnie du Ponant
Port of registryWallis and Futuna Mata Utu
Builder
  • Vard Tulcea, Romania (hull)
  • Vard Søviknes, Norway (outfitting)[1]
CostNOK 2.7 billion[1]
Laid downDecember 2018[2]
LaunchedMarch 2020[3]
CompletedJuly 2021[4]
IdentificationIMO number: 9846249
StatusIn service
General characteristics [5]
TypeCruise ship
Tonnage31,283 GT
Length150 m (492 ft)
Beam28 m (92 ft)
Draught10 m (33 ft)
Ice classPolar Class 2
Installed power
  • 4 × Wärtsilä 14V31DF (4 × 7,700 kW)
  • 2 × Wärtsilä 10V31DF (2 × 5,500 kW)[6][7]
  • 5 MWh batteries[8]
PropulsionDiesel-electric; two ABB Azipod propulsion units (2 × 17 MW)[9]
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) (open water)
Capacity270 passengers in 135 cabins[1]
Crew187

Description

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.[1][8]

Design and construction

The ship was launched in March 2020[3] 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]

Career

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]

References
  1. VARD secures contract for the design and construction of the first electric hybrid cruise icebreaker with LNG propulsion for PONANT Archived 19 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine. VARD, 18 December 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  2. Keel Laid for Le Commandant Charcot. Cruise Industry News, 27 December 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  3. "Ponant : Après sa mise à l'EAU, le Commandant Charcot quitte la Roumanie". 30 March 2020.
  4. "Le Commandant Charcot delivered". Vard Group AS. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  5. Le Commandant Charcot. Le Commandant Charcot. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  6. Wärtsilä to power Ponant's world-first hybrid electric icebreaker. Seatrade Cruise News, 21 October 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  7. Wärtsilä 31DF. Wärtsilä. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  8. "ABB highlights technology that brought Le Commandant Charcot to the North Pole". 13 September 2021.
  9. World's first hybrid icebreaker for cruising powered by ABB. electrive.com, 10 March 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  10. "Ponant : la coque du Commandant Charcot est arrivée en Norvège" (in French). 29 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  11. "Ponant : Le Commandant Charcot achève ses essais glace en Arctique". 25 June 2021.
  12. "Le Commandant Charcot delivered". 3 August 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  13. PONANT [@Cie_ponant] (6 September 2021). "Ce lundi 6 septembre 2021 à 10h38, Le Commandant Charcot a atteint le pôle Nord géographique ! Un moment fort qui concrétise l'aventure unique de ce navire d'exception. Une première pour un navire français, propulsé au Gaz Naturel Liquéfié. © Alexiane Eymard, Etienne Garcia" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  14. Rao, Joe (5 December 2021). "Here's what the only total solar eclipse of 2021 was like from a cruise ship near Antarctica". Space.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021.
  15. "Le Commandant Charcot Review". CruiseMapper. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  16. "RRS Sir David Attenborough collaborates with cruise ship". British Antarctic Survey. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  17. ""Le Commandant Charcot" teams up with the RV Kronprins Haakon in the Arctic". Late Cruise News. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.


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