Damen Schelde, part of Damen Shipyards Group, has officially signed a contract for designing and building Australia’s new icebreaker, amounting to a $1.912 billion investment, with the custom built ship due to arrive in Australia in mid-2020.
The contract signing follows the release of the Australian Antarctic Strategy and 20 Year Action Plan by the Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt MP.
The total investment is over $1.912 billion, with $529 million being invested in the capital cost of the icebreaker, and $1.38 billion to be spent on operations and maintenance over its 30 year lifespan.More than $1.1 billion (around 80 per cent) of the operations and maintenance spend will be in Australia, with the majority expected in Tasmania.
The new icebreaker will be used for the resupply of Australia’s Antarctic research stations and to lead scientific expeditions as the government said.
Source & Image credit: Australian Antarctic Division
