Even the paint is from New Zealand
When the research vessel Tangaroa goes to a Singaporean shipyard in July, it will carry all its own hull paint from New Zealand.
When the research vessel Tangaroa goes to a Singaporean shipyard in July, it will carry all its own hull paint from New Zealand.
The National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has contracted the Singaporean shipyard for some of the work on Tangaroa’s new dynamic positioning system.
“Throughout the installation process NIWA has tried to maximise opportunities for New Zealand based companies,” says Dr Rob Murdoch, NIWA’s General Manager Research. This includes investing in up-skilling New Zealand industry: “We are funding representatives of an Auckland-based company to come to Singapore to learn about the new technology to be installed so that they will be able to undertake any future maintenance work on the DPS,” Dr Murdoch says.
The Singaporean component is just one phase of the total $20 million refit of Tangaroa. The preparatory work on the vessel last year was undertaken by a five-company consortium in Whangarei, and the re-ballasting of the ship completed by a company in Wellington. A number of components (eg cooling vents) associated with the final installation are being sourced within New Zealand and taken to Singapore. “We are even purchasing all the hull paint here and taking it with us on the vessel,” says Dr Murdoch.
NIWA ran an extremely thorough and detailed two stage tender process for the work. Eight shipyards in Australasia were approached, three of which were New Zealand companies.
The Singaporean shipyard met NIWA’s needs in terms of timing, budget, health & safety and risk management. By getting the work done in Singapore, NIWA is saving several million dollars. The shipyard has considerably more experience than the New Zealand yards, and the suppliers of all the major pieces of kit required for this job (eg thrusters, switching gear) are also based in Singapore.
“We have used the shipyard in Devonport for dry-docking and maintenance work on Tangaroa in the past and will continue to use their excellent services in the future,” Dr Murdoch says.
The dynamic positioning system will allow Tangaroa to stay in one place (within a few metres) or, if required, move unerringly along a path, improving its ability to deploy and operate precise gear such as seabed samplers, soil and rock testing equipment, seabed drill rigs, and remotely-operated vehicles. Tangaroa will be the only New Zealand vessel with such advanced ‘DP2’ capability.
