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A new workboat has been delivered to a Norwegian coastal waterway authority as construction continues on a pilot station ship in China and a research vessel for a French museum. Orders have meanwhile been placed for two German electric workboats and a sea-going rocket launch base in the United States.
China's Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard has floated out a new pilot station vessel ordered by Shanghai Port Pilot Station. Upon completion, Hu Gang Yin 9 will have an LOA of 120.9 metres, a displacement of 6,000 tonnes, and accommodations for 133 people including 88 pilots, making it the largest pilot station vessel built in China.
Power will be provided by two main engines driving propellers to deliver a design speed of 14 knots. The vessel will also have improved stability, seakeeping, and resistance to wind and waves.
Hu Gang Yin 9 is being built in compliance with China Classification Society rules. The vessel's area of operations will encompass the Port of Shanghai and other ports along the Yangtze River.
French shipbuilder Chantier Naval Glehen has launched a new coastal research and training vessel ordered by the French National Museum of Natural History. Named Korrigane, the vessel was designed by French naval architecture firm Ship-ST.
The vessel will boat a carbon-free design and will be equipped with two solar sails. These will enable the vessel to drawn on renewable energy sources for operation in sensitive waters.
Korrigane is scheduled for delivery in the summer of 2024. It will be operated out of Saint-Malo in Brittany.
Flotte Hamburg, the marine services provider that serves clients in the Port of Hamburg in Germany, has placed an order for two new workboats in a series to be built by local shipyard Hermann Barthel. The workboats will be fitted with all-electric propulsion in anticipation of new laws forbidding vessels with traditional combustion engines from operating in the waters of Hamburg beginning in 2030.
The Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket) recently took delivery of a new aluminium workboat. Runde is the the third in a series of workboats that also includes Stabben and Skrova, which were handed over to Kystverket in December last year.
The Spaceport Company (TSC), a US-based space launch company, has been awarded a contract by the US Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to develop a prototype for a sea-going mobile space launch complex. TSC said the prototype will be developed to demonstrate delivery to a mission-designed orbit and to test autonomy-like features of the sea launch vessel.
