After traveling more than 1 000 000 kilometers (25 times around the Earth!) and 37 years of service, the "old" RV Belgica has seen better days. This is why the Belgian Federal Government has decided based amongst others on a feasibility study and a funding study to build a new state-of-the-art ocean research vessel, which will be operational end of 2021.
The new ship will allow marine scientists to continue and extend their multi-day or multi-week research trips in Belgian waters and beyond. In this way they build up scientific knowledge that is necessary to support the so-called Blue Economy. Just think of sustainable fishing, offshore wind turbines, mining activities in the deep sea, energy storage off the coast ...
The new research vessel Belgica will be owned by the Belgian State represented by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO). The OD Nature of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense and a private operator, will be responsible for the management of the ship. The home port is the naval base in Zeebrugge.
The characteristics of the research vessel were determined based on a survey of the marine scientific community and (potential) users of the vessel.
The new research vessel will be multidisciplinary and will be able to perform various research disciplines (fisheries, biology, chemistry, ...) and will be equipped with state-of-the-art scientific equipment.
