R.V. "ALKOR" History, construction and equipment

The launching of the “ALKOR” took place on September 11, 1989 in Emden. On May 2, 1990 at 12.00 noon, the new “ALKOR” was handed over to the Institute of Oceanography (now GEOMAR) by the Cassens shipyard as part of a guest trip to the Bay of Kiel. The sister ship “HEINCKE” was launched a few months later and went to the Helgoland Biological Institute. The planning for both ships and the construction was carried out as part of an IfM-BAH joint venture. The two ships were financed as a special project by the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology  (BMFT). The construction costs amounted to around DM 33 million per ship. In the case of F.S. “ALKOR”, the state of Schleswig-Holstein provided ten percent of the required funds. 

Both ships had predecessors and were therefore replacements that were sold abroad when the new units were accepted. The old research cutter “ALKOR”, built in 1966 (=236 GRT, 30.8 meters long), still sails today under the Dutch flag with the name “Alk”. During its 24 years of service for the former Institute of Oceanography, the cutter covered a total of 326,000 nautical miles with around 30,000 scientists. 

Even before the 20th anniversary celebration of the 'old' “ALKOR” on March 3, 1986, the extension or a replacement building was under discussion. Concrete requirements for a new building were derived from the Baltic Sea Convention and the needs for biological monitoring, which at the time was carried out for the old Federal Republic of Germany by the Institute of Oceanography (now GEOMAR). 

Due to the Helsinki Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment in the Baltic Sea, the ship would have had to be refitted by 1990 (holding tanks, waste disposal, waste water treatment), which would have meant that valuable ship space would have been lost and the ship would no longer have been able to meet current and even less future requirements. In addition, the ship no longer met today's work requirements in many respects, so that a replacement ship was necessary, which was to be between the size of the former “Alkor” and “Poseidon” in order to enable multidisciplinary work. 

In the third stage of “Biological Monitoring” (from 1988), trace substance analyses from air, water and sediment were included in the program. This would have required a hydrographic shaft for water extraction (pump). There was no possibility of accommodating a container for clean bench conditions, and the ship was not suitable for taking large water samples (500 l water sampler). The old “ALKOR” was unsuitable for air chemistry work, as there was no high platform available for taking undisturbed air samples. In general, the ship no longer offered adequate working conditions. A separate cold room is required for holding and storing samples. The ship vibrated too much, so that microscopy work was not possible. 

The new “ALKOR” was to be deployed in the area of the European shelf (Baltic Sea, North Sea, English Channel, Irish Sea, Norwegian Sea up to the height of Bergen).
It can be used as a multi-purpose research vessel for all disciplines of marine research:

• for all work in physical oceanography, marine chemistry and biological oceanography including fisheries biology;
• for special work in maritime meteorology, marine geophysics and light geology;
• operation in medium ice conditions in the Baltic Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak.

Since the commissioning of the new “ALKOR” in the year of German reunification, the research vessel has covered a total of 220,000 nm (equivalent to 10 times the circumference of the earth) and carried out 155 longer research cruises. During this time, the ship was also at sea on 2,265 days for one-day training and practical trips and multi-day trips. A total of 10,967 scientists, technicians and students were on board. 

Since entering into service, the “ALKOR” has been used almost exclusively in the Baltic Sea, the Kattegat and Skagerrak as well as in the North Sea in accordance with the unaltered sailing permit for “short cruises”. The longest research cruise was in 1992 in coastal waters off Portugal. 

An extension of the cruising area would require considerable retrofitting and conversion work and is currently not a priority for GEOMAR, as e.g. the "RV METEOR IV" will be able to cover the orders that go beyond the “small cruise” area (Atlantic, Mediterranean). 

Since 1997, the “ALKOR”, has been operated in agreement with the other ship-operating institutes (IOW, AWI) according to a central application and allocation procedure in the “pool of medium-sized research vessels”. As a result, an increasing number of external groups have embarked in recent years. However, this does not change the fact that the “ALKOR” has had particularly close contact with the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) since its commissioning due to its cruises in the near and far vicinity of the Baltic Sea and its occasional involvement in public relations work (“Kiel Week”, etc.) and is part of the image of Kiel harbour. 

Overall, the “ALKOR” has proved its worth during its time in the service of GEOMAR in accordance with its planning design. No major conversions have been necessary to date.