The research icebreaker James Clark Ross, which the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine recently made a decision to buy from the UK, will arrive at the port of Odessa in September.

This was announced by the director of the National Antarctic Science Center Eugene Dikiy. According to him, legal procedures for the purchase of the ship are being carried out now.

In September, the icebreaker will arrive at the port of Odessa, and we will go to the Vernadsky Research Base station in December on this vessel.

Eugene Dikiy

The icebreaker is now in the Danish port of Frederikshavn.

The ship is 30 years old now, for a ship of this class it is not old age. It is designed for at least 50 years of use - we have a 20-year warranty. With the proper use, it can be 25-30 years of work. This is a whole generation of scientists

RRS James Clark Ross (JCR), launched by HM the Queen in 1990, is primarily a marine research vessel for biological, oceanographic and geophysical cruises. It is equipped with a suite of laboratories and winch systems that allows scientific equipment to be deployed astern or amidships. The ship has an extremely low noise signature, allowing the deployment of sensitive acoustic equipment. A swath bathymetry system was fitted in 2000.

RRS James Clark Ross (named after Admiral Sir James Clark Ross, R.N.) was built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders, Wallsend, UK. The vessel can steam at a steady two knots through level sea ice one metre thick. To assist passage through heavy pack ice a compressed air system rolls the ship from side to side freeing the passage.

It was on this vessel that the first Ukrainian Antarctic expedition reached the Vernadsky Research Base station in 1996.