Boatshed onboard Arctic Sunrise

Greenpeace ship MV Arctic Sunrise was in Buenos Aires, The Boatshed team were invited onboard to have a closer look at this very interesting vessel.

MV Arctic Sunrise was on route to the River Uruguay and had stopped at BA to pick up fuel and supplies.
Ironically, before Greenpeace chartered the Arctic Sunrise it was once a sealing vessel. The hull is rounded with no keel, so that the ship lifts out of the ice instead of being crushed by it.

The Arctic Sunrise began its Greenpeace life during the Brent Spar campaign where it was used to prevent dumping oil installations at sea.

In 1997 it became the first ship to circumnavigate James Ross Island in the Antarctic, which previously was an impossible journey until a 200m thick ice shelf connecting the island to the Antarctic continent collapsed. This was just one of the many signs of climate change which the Arctic Sunrise has helped document.

It continues to it's operations in the Southern Oceans continuing to thwart Japanese attempts to pursue its so-called "scientific" whaling programme.

In January 2006 she received damage to her bows following a collision with the Japanese whaling ship, Nisshin Maru. See Photos below

Specifications
Port of registry: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Former name: Polarbjorn
Date of charter: 1995
Number of berths: 28
Inflatable boats: 2 Ribs and 2 inflatable
Helicopter capable: Yes
Type of ship: Sea-going motor yacht
Call sign: PCTK
Built: 1975 by AS Vaagen Verft
Gross tonnage: 949 tonnes
Length O.A: 49.62 m
Breadth: 11.50 m
Maximum Draught: 5.30 m
Maximum Speed: 13 Knots
Main engine: MAK 9M452AK 2495 IHP 1619kW
Aux engines: 2 x Deutz BF6M716 208hp (175 kva)
Bow & stern thrusters: 400 hp each

Greenpeace is taking part in a protest that has become known as "The Paper Plant Wars"
Activists who have been blocking international bridges between Argentina and Uruguay for the past month to protest the construction of two paper pulp factories on the Uruguayan side of a river separating the two countries.

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