Fincantieri’s subsidiary VARD, a global designer and shipbuilder of specialized vessels, has delivered Le Commandant Charcot, a hybrid electric polar exploration ship with ice breaking technology that is powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Owned and operated by Ponant, Le Commandant Charcot weights 30,000 gross tons and measures 150 meters long by 28 meters wide. The propulsion system is made up of LNG-powered dual-fuel engines, including four 14-cylinder and two 10-cylinder Wärtsilä 31DF units. The engines will generate a maximum power output of 42 MW. It also includes two ABB Azipod electric propulsion units developing a total power of 34 MW.
A Polar Class PC2 ship, the vessel is fitted with facilities and equipment for research, providing the scientific world with a platform for observation, research, and analysis to study water, air, ice, and biodiversity in extreme polar regions. Le Commandant Charcot will be sailing in the world’s most remote regions: the Geographic North Pole, Northeast Greenland’s National Park, circumnavigating the Svalbard archipelago, the Bellingshausen Sea, Charcot and Pierre I Islands, Weddell Sea, and the Larsen Ice Shelf.
