India to acquire icebreaker for scientific and business exploration

03 Jun 2013

India is in the process of acquiring an icebreaker for a whopping Rs800 crore ($144 million) for conducting scientific and business exploration in the polar regions, IANS reports.

According to Shailesh Nayak, secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, a proposal with government is likely get a go ahead by the end of 2013.

The hi-tech ship, which would be custom built for India, would be capable of cutting through 1.5-2 metre thick ice. It would be equipped with several laboratories for carrying out experiments in the Arctic and in Antarctica.

Nayak added, the ministry was in the process of acquiring an icebreaker for carrying out exploration in the polar region. He added the ministry had the design ready about what kind of ship was needed and the kind of facilities and labs that would be required.

He said the ship was likely to cost somewhere around Rs800-900 crore, adding the proposal would need to go through a long process of approvals and hopefully, the final approval would be received this year. He said the estimate as of now was the ministry would get the vessel by the end of 2016.

India operates a principal research base in the Arctic, with three such stations in Antarctica.

Nayak said as of the present, the ministry hired or chartered the ships from private parties in Russia and Norway.

He added with the ship it was possible to take long cruises as it had the capability of 45 days' endurance.

Explaining India's interest behind acquiring the ship, Nayak said, this signified that the government was serious about studying changes in climate happening in the polar regions.

He added, scientists had to collect a lot of data to study the changes happening in the region.

With the acquisition Indian scientists would be able to carry out experiments like studying changes in the ocean temperature and how the temperature and salinity varied in different areas.

He added one could find the structure of currents in the ocean and how the pattern changed during the course of time.

He said, the ship could be used both in the North Pole as well as the South Pole as both had opposite summer season.