AMC alumnus Nick Browne has accepted the role of a lifetime as project manager of Australia’s new and highly-anticipated Antarctic icebreaker, RSV Nuyina.
“I always dreamed and hoped to be involved in a project as significant as the RSV Nuyina project,” Mr Browne said.
The vessel, currently under construction in Damen Shipyards in Galati, Romania, is set to operate out of Hobart following its intended completion in 2022.
For the next generation’s Australian Antarctic scientists the icebreaker will provide new opportunities for scientific research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.
The vessel’s design, build, 30-year operation and lifetime maintenance is projected to run at a cost of $1.9bn, making RSV Nuyina Australia’s largest investment in the Antarctic program.
Mr Browne, who has a Bachelor of Engineering in naval architecture from AMC, has called on fellow alumni for the project including Captain Mike Jackson and ex-AMC board chairman David Serrett.
“There is a very exciting future here at the Australian Antarctic Division and its modernising Antarctic program… I get a real sense of satisfaction knowing that the work I do here directly supports the achievement of Australia’s national interests in Antarctica,” Mr Browne said approaching his seventh year working on the RSV Nuyina project.
The 160-metre-long and 25,000 tonne RSV Nuyina made headlines this past September as the task of naming the new ship fell into the hands of Tasmanian schoolchildren.
The winning group of Tasmanian students entered the name Nuyina, a Tasmanian Aboriginal word meaning Southern Lights, into the Australian Antarctic Division contest, “Name Our Icebreaker,” and were flown to Antarctica for a day as part of the prize.
