SA Agulhas II Documentary

Antarctica is a desert the driest windiest coldest harshest place on earth it's almost twice the size of Australia and colder than the Arctic the temperature gets as low as minus 90 degrees Celsius and wind speeds as high as 300 km/h summer days are 24 hours long and in winter nights can bring an entire month of darkness it is here that we get the best window on our geo space combined with an unspoiled physical environment hoarding millions of years of evidence describing the Earth's history it has a unique system of government Antarctica belongs to no one an international treaty gives all countries the right to study this pristine environment and protects it as a natural reserve devoted to science and peace the hostile environment makes life here extremely difficult but despite its inherent dangers researchers from at least 30 countries occupy the continent at various bases as one of the original 12 signatories of the Antarctic Treaty South African researchers have been working here continuously since 1960 the South African national and toxic expedition Base San i-4 is the platform for South Africa's contribution to Antarctic research maintaining a base in Antarctica poses huge logistical challenges for the transportation of personnel equipment hazardous cargo and supplies for close to 35 years the South African Department of Environmental Affairs Research and supply vessel sa aguilas has been the lifeline to operations here and on Marion and Gulf Islands with the sa aguilas reaching the end of its working life for such punishing conditions DEA took the decision to replace its flagship with a new purpose-built vessel to take over these duties using the latest technology this ship would have to be a tanker cargo carrier passenger ship research vessel helicopter carrier and an icebreaker such a vessel has never been built after exhaustive studies reviews expert consultations and attend a process one company emerged as the front-runner STX Finland the Builder of the world's largest passenger cruise ships and with one of the longest histories of ice breaking experience was chosen to undertake this pioneering work the competition was international client visited several yards abroad and our benefits as they have always been has been one of designers and we have all our elements in-house we can make this time here we have the production facilities we do the testing and final commissioning BMS Alice is of course one of vessel and it's its prototype vessel and this is the first passenger vessel including all this Iceland class and and helicopter facilities and cargo facilities so this is very unique with a ship of this type you spend probably almost as long in designing the vessel as you do in fact building it this one in particular being the first of class the first of its kind took many nine months to do the detail design and get all the drawings approved not only by the owner but by the classification society in any all the other regulatory authorities STX Finland drama shipyard is one of the world's leading ferry builders and their location close to the Arctic makes them the ideal ship builder for ice breaking vessels located on the Finnish West Coast the quaint town of Rama known for its high quality lace and 18th century buildings has a proud maritime history here the first steal for the project was cut in September 2010 raw steel plates are computer engineered and cut with absolute precision using CNC plasma cutting technology these components have been welded together in incremental stages to form larger section we start from small pieces out of steel and building smaller sections of that combining the small steel sections into bigger ones and then combining the two blocks to a jumbo block which may weigh close to 500 ton STX Rama's massive sheds ensure that this work continues all year despite sub-zero temperatures outside cabins are prefabricated to design specification and progress has monitored closely to ensure that all electrical and logistics prerogatives are met all the cabins are on the port and the starboard side of the vessel which then allows natural light to come in every single cabin has their own ablution facility also 90% of the laboratories are and with natural light which also makes a huge difference when you spending a lot of time at sea we've looked at a most suitable bits of equipment that is always going to be available in South Africa to ensure that the flow of space is not interrupted we can always get stuck with me requirement daily inspections are conducted on-site by the project team along with independent specialists who scrutinize every detail of the build process an icy finish morning in January 2011 saw the placement of Finnish and South African coins under the first block during the keel laying ceremony this belaying clock will be lifted as a first first block to drydock on week 9 and then then it's like a Lego puzzle to lift next sections from the NAFTA and above this the ship comprises 26 with a co-brand blocks there is a big structures like the one behind and then the ship is constructed in building dock each of the abductor didn't put together I put in the bottom of the yard completed they push together aligned and then welded up a major milestone of the build is the installation of the ship's engines for six-cylinder Watson r32 diesel engines make up the main power generation system each engine generates three thousand kilowatts of electric power for the two four thousand five hundred kilowatt electric propulsion motors each driving a variable pitch propeller during 20 weeks we have listed all the blocks so putting those 30 blocks together we have created this complete shape of the hull in July 2011 the DEA director-general mrs. Northup on lava presided over an emotional naming ceremony for the SI aguilas - I was moved this is this a dream or am I really alive and I teach myself a little bit yes this is the game and MBA in Roma and catching the ribbon on a South African special vessel so it is with excitement also I guess with anticipation because we are going to be opening a new window in terms of our understanding of what happens in the oceans so there is now inside the vessel there is plenty of areas where is my fitting we're going on insulation we're going on there is already a lot of cabins inside and that work start to continue you're simultaneously with the hull assembly from now on of course all the all the main machinery is in place and some of the infrastructure on board the ship is at quite an advanced stage and now starts all the outfitting the fitting of the cabins fitting of all the regalia equipment and the galley itself the fitting out of the laboratories they're all they just in steel at the moment many miles of cabling line the internal walls floors and ceilings transporting critical data throughout every corner of the ship the main point of command is the bridge control for all the ship systems feedback here there is extensive equipment for communication and navigation the ship is fitted with a satellite dish to serve the communications needs of the passengers and scientists this will provide capacity to send large volumes of raw data from surveys for further processing ashore by specialists once all critical systems have been installed and are ready for testing sea trials await the the objective of the sea trials is really to for the first time put all the systems in the ship under test and the real conditions rather than alongside the Hobbit and that really means testing everything every system must be rigorously tested under the scrutiny of certification and safety authorities DET norske veritas and the south african Maritime Safety Authority and the department's project team tests include manoeuvring trials engine load tests autopilot and dynamic positioning and noise and vibration levels all scientific equipment must also be demonstrated by manufacturer representatives a drop keel can be lowered through the bottom of the ship to a depth of three meters below the keel it houses the transducers for measuring the density of plankton layers small fish and ocean currents the large environmental hangar door can be opened at sea to facilitate the operation of deepwater probes to a depth of six thousand meters the ship has deep coring facilities for geological science capable of sampling seabed sediments to a depth of five thousand meters a hydraulic a-frame on the stern allows for towing sampling nets and dredges and deploying or retrieving current meter arrays a moon pool extends from the environmental hangar down through the ship's hull it can be used as an alternative launch area in pack ice the shape of the bow is critical for breaking ice the bow was designed in Ramah and refined by subsidiary company akka arctic in helsinki alka Arctic has the world's only privately owned ice model testing facility and has been involved in 60% of the world's icebreakers this engineering would now be put to the test as the vessel is taken north to find ice during the ice trials we have specified in the specification that the vessel will will achieve 5 knots speed at 1 meter ice and that was the of course the main many so what was tested and they did it during the ice trials ice samples are collected and extensively tested for density thickness and brittleness we went up to the north of the gulf of bothnia which gave the ship a real around where the density was very low so the ice was a very hard ambition and the vessel performed extremely well in those ice conditions there surprisingly sir the finished product was proudly handed over on the 4th of April 2012 during a poignant flag changing ceremony signifying its transfer to South African ownership [Music] with just two days to complete final preparations and pack supplies the vessel is finally ready to leave its moorings and come home to fulfill its important role that was maybe one of the more moving moments of this entire process it was to see the ship moving off the key side and then realizing in two hours time that berth would be empty and the ship would not return it was really a moment for myself and STX the ship was delivered to specification to budget and on time and and those are the three things we like our customers to conclude when they leave here [Music] on the 3rd of May 2012 the SI Agulhas - sailed into Cape Town harbor to jubilant celebration the ship was traditionally blessed and dedicated to South African musician and activist Miriam Makeba the Empress of African song who devoted her life to the struggle for human rights and the opposition of tyranny the arrival of SAR galas - rushes in a new era of scientific discovery for South Africa and sets the benchmark for vessels conducting this essential work [Music] it will act as a catalyst to draw in international expertise and in the process but local capacity so we're very excited about that I think that we are incredibly pleased to have this vessel it's a privilege the most exciting put it that I've ever had the privilege to be involved in and in some ways I I'm sad that it's coming to an end but on the other side it's a huge sense of relief in the sense of pride that we have got to everybody as we say farewell to its stalwart predecessor the SAR galas to capably assumes responsibility for South Africa's contribution to Southern Ocean and Antarctic exploration [Music] [Music] you

Channel: EnvironmentZA

Views: 46,668

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Id: s4EHZ9-kNWc

Length: 15min 26sec (926 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 17 2018