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19th to 21st of May 2026
19th, 20th & 21st
MAY 2026

- CONFIRMED DATES -

Armón and Freire are building six oceanographic vessels

Vigo shipyards are bidding to build an Arctic research vessel for Denmark. Spanish CSIC's 'Odón de Buen' returns to Vigo for its equipment to be put into service and tested

Vigo shipyards have half a dozen oceanographic vessels in its order book. Armón and Freire shipyards are leading the way in the construction of this type of vessel, placing themselves in the world elite together with the work of a good part of the Galician shipbuilding industry. Both are now bidding to build a research vessel for Denmark, which will be added to the ones they have lined up. All for foreign clients.

Freire has got two. It is building a 50-metre-long one for Saudi Arabia scheduled for delivery in 2026. It will be the first deep-water vessel from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. He has already completed another one for Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Center (MBARI), in California, which named the ship after the founder of the technology company HP, a pioneer of Silicon Valley. The “David Packard” is a milestone in the history of the Spanish navy, as it is the first oceanographic vessel built in Europe destined to operate in US waters.

Armón Vigo has four. In the final stretch is the ‘Borunn Bordardotirr’, the largest research vessel in Iceland - 70 meters long; he is building one for the Azores Islands that will be delivered at the end of next year; another large one - 75 meters - for the Dutch Institute of Marine Research; and he has been awarded one for Northern Ireland with deadline in 2027.

Around the world

Armón recently delivered another two oceanographic vessels, one for New Zealand, where it arrived after 83 days of navigation. Last week he said goodbye to ‘Odón de Buen’, the most important scientific research vessel in Spain. With 84.3 metre-long and a cost of 85 million euros, the ship set sail for Cadiz, where it will have its home port, although in recent days it returned to Vigo to “test equipment and fine-tune so that can reach full operational capacity”, according to the IEO-CSIC, the organisation that operates the flagship of the Spanish scientific fleet.

Danish Arctic research vessel

Armón and Freire shipyards from Vigo are candidates to build the oceanographic vessel ‘Dana V’ for Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, of Denmark. The firm Knud E. Hansen, in charge of the conceptual design, presented the first images of the future Arctic research vessel, which will be 70 metres long and is valued at 50 million euros.

(Source: Atlántico Diario)