The contract for the construction of the RV6000 vessel of over €200 million was signed in July 2025, and the launch is scheduled for the second quarter 2028
About a month before the keel was laid for the RV6000, Vard announced it has signed a €700 million contract with Inkfish for the construction of another explorer yacht, the 162-metre RV11000, which is scheduled to hit the water in the first quarter of 2030. Together with the Hydra and the Dagon, both new vessels will join the fleet of dedicated marine research vessels of American non-profit organization, Inkfish.
Norwegian Vard, which is part of Italian Fincantieri, promises that the RV6000 will be “one of the most modern research vessels the world has seen”.
The vessel with a length of 100 m and a beam of 20.7 m is built to the Vard 9 33 design, meant for seafloor mapping. It will be equipped with the most advanced gondola-mounted sensor suite, submersible support with two manned crafts and ROV operations with an operational capacity to 6,000 metres deep. There will also be a stern-mounted A-Frame system and an offshore crane equipped with AHC configured for operations down to 2,500 metres.
For tender storage and maintenance there will be a lage hangar. A dedicated helicopter deck will provide additional logistical capabilities.
The internal volume of 7,522 GT allows for comfortable accommodation for 70 people (scientists and crew), as well as laboratories, offices and workshops.
The RV6000’s hybrid propulsion system will ensure a speed of 15 knots and autonomous expeditions of up to 30 days.
The keel for the new generation megaexplorer was laid at the Vard facility in Romanian Brăila. The hull will be built there, while final finishing, outfitting, launch and delivery of the RV6000 will take place at Vard's yard in Sæviknes on the west coast of Norway.
Gabe Newell, who has been the owner of Inkfish since 2022, is using the organization as a tool for promoting deep-ocean research. To realize his oceanographic ambitions, he invested in the Hadal Exploration System platform, and in August 2025, he bought the renowned Dutch shipyard, Oceanco. Inkfish research expeditions explore underwater archeology and marine biology, the consequences of human activity and pollution, and conduct research in hard-to-reach ocean trenches, which sometimes produces breakthrough results, discovering unclassified species of marine creatures.
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