"Odón de Buen" launching: turning point for Grupo Armón and IEO milestone
The new global reference Spain’s oceanographic is launched and the final stretch of construction begins with an eye toward July 2024, when delivery is scheduled.
Wednesday, July 5, 2023, is already part of the IEO history and Grupo Armón. The clock was approaching 5:30 p.m. when the "Odón de Buen", the new global oceanographic facility of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography whose name honors the founder of the institution, left Armón Vigo slipways to enter Athantic waters that bathe Vigo estuary for the first time.
After launching, in a pristine hull displacement operation by sliding on a 25 minutes rail lasting, the 85-meter-long by 18-meter-wide hull of the ship called to be an emblem of Spanish oceanography, and an outstanding project of the letter of introduction from the Spanish navy, was towed to one of the Vigo’s Bay Shipyard, also owned by Grupo Armón, where it began its most decisive phase –internal sharing as well as technological equipment– with the course set towards July 2024, expected delivery date.
The act, the second milestone of the "Odón de Buen" after the keel laying held on October 15, brought together the highest representatives of the CSIC, IEO as well as Grupo Armón, who stressed the launching also represents a turning point for the company in its firm commitment to be a benchmark in the construction of oceanographics.
Eloisa del Pino, the Higher Council for Scientific Research President (CSIC), remarked this in the first words of her speech, before the hull went down the ramp. “This is a very exciting day,” she said. The President of the CSIC highlighted the milestone this ship will represent for Spanish science, also from an environmental point of view. "This is an important scientific advance, and also a sustainable advance", she mentioned in relation to the commitment made to equip the ship with a dual propulsion system with LNG gas that will reduce emissions and noise in its approaches to the port as well as during the data collection operations. In addition, she pointed out the qualitative leap that will allow Spanish ocean research, not only due to the latest technology in its laboratories, but also by expanding the exploration range to a depth of 6,000 meters (compared to 2,000 meters for the current fleet of the IEO) and at polar latitudes. "We are very satisfied that Odón is once again sailing the seas as she would like," she concluded, recalling the figure of the founder of the IEO. The ship will be based at Cádiz Port, as it appears on the hull.
Armón Vigo currently has eight vessels under construction, five of which are oceanographics. In addition to the ship for the IEO, it has oceanographic projects underway for the Netherlands, Iceland, New Zealand and the Azores, and in recent years it has built research ships for Mexico, Angola, Ireland or Argentina, among others.
(Source: Industrias Pesqueras)