New RV Belgica

After traveling more than 900,000 kilometers (20 times around the Earth!) and 34 years of service, the RV Belgica has seen better days. This is why the Federal Government has decided to build a new state-of-the-art ocean research vessel in 2019, which will be operational from the 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 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, will be responsible for the management of the ship.

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.

Compared to the RV Belgica, it will offer more space for scientists and for research. It will spend more time at sea each year (about 300 days a year) and cover a wider research area (North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Arctic area in summer). It will be built to the highest standards of energy consumption, emissions (ecological ship) and noise production (acoustic silence).

The vessel will also serve as a platform for European cooperation and will be adapted to the existing European modern marine research infrastructures. This will bring new opportunities for Belgian researchers, such as research requiring the use of remote-controlled or autonomous vehicles (ROVs - remotely operated vehicle or AUVs - autonomous underwater vehicles).