St. Petersburg’s Admiralty Shipyards have launched the Project 0093 ice-resistant self-propelled platform “Severny Polyus” (The North Pole in Russian) for the RF Federal Service for hydrometeorology and environmental monitoring.
The contract for building the platform was signed in April 2018, the vessel was laid down on April 10, 2019. The vessel construction is part of the Federal programme for the RF Artic region social and economic development.
The platform is designed as a fully-functional research center and is aimed for year-round missions in the Arctic Ocean to conduct geologic, acoustic, geophysical and oceanographic studies.
The vessel is capable of operating in ice conditions without the assistance of an icebreaker and can serve as a landing ground for heavy transport helicopters.
The 83.1 m LOA, 22.5 beam Arc8 platform has a speed of at least 10 knots and can accommodate 14 crew members and 34 researchers.