SW Gallien
First name; Polarcus Alima. Built as a 12 streamer 3D seismic vessel of the ULSTEIN SX134 design. Arctic-ready with an ICE-1A class notation, double hull and ballast water treatment system that eliminates the risk of introducing invasive species into fragile ecosystems.
Primary Specifications
Additional Data
Ship history
Delivered from Drydocks World Dubai at 21 March 2011. The vessel is capable of deploying 12 streamers of 9,000 m length at 100 m separation. Six months after delivery, the ?Polarcus Alima? transited to Asia-Pacific via the Northern Sea Route (NSR). This is the first known passage of a 3D seismic vessel along the NSR. Vessels making the passage are required to hold an ICE-1A or higher ice class.
Her passage commenced on 15 September from Hammerfest in Norway after completion of seismic operations in the Barents Sea. After only nine days and 3,000 nautical miles the vessel reached Cape Dezhnev in the Bering Straits. She then continued her onward passage to New Zealand to commence operations there.
The expected time savings in transit between Norway and New Zealand compared to the traditional route through the Panama Canal amounts to some eight days. The savings versus the Suez Canal, a necessity for some larger seismic vessels, amounts to thirteen days. Preparations for the voyage were carried out in close cooperation with Tschudi Arctic Transit AS through its Russian - Norwegian JV company Arctic Bulk AG, Atomflot, and the Northern Sea Route Administration in Moscow.
Commenting on the successful transit Rolf Rønningen, CEO Polarcus, said: ?The successful navigation of 'Polarcus Alima' along the Northern Sea Route leads to significant savings in fuel, emissions, and time in transit.?
Milestones
2021: In April 2021, Shearwater GeoServices acquired all the six Polarcus vessels. The vessel has changed name to 'SW Gallien'.
2022, 20 October: Shearwater GeoServices and WesternGeco will jointly perform a newly awarded ocean-bottom node (OBN) three-month survey in the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Shearwater will deploy the SW Gallien and SW Mikkelsen as source vessels for the project, in combination with ROV node deployment.
2023: Still active - IMO 9538139