In May 1995, this vessel replaced a similarly named Austral seas supply vessel active since 1973. She was built by the SNACH, a yard in Le Havre for the Compagnie Générale Maritime.

She is chartered jointly, by the Austral territories administration and by the French Institute for Polar Research and Technology for oceanographic campaigns around the world. She is registered, quite logically, in the French Kerguelen Islands, at Port aux Français.

Specially designed for Antarctic conditions, this vessel is perfectly suited for her missions. She is used both as a supply vessel to all the bases in the Antarctic, and for scientific research.

She has a large passenger capacity, cargo holds able to receive regular containers, oil tanker capacity, has a helicopter landing pad, and scientific and research facilities. Because of her supply role she is much larger than previous oceanographic vessels. She has extensive personnel capacity and can carry different programs at the same time. Her 70 day autonomy allows for a world round trip without stopover.

Her size is such that she is a very comfortable workplace. Finally she has powerful cranes, state of the art scientific equipment, and her diesel electric propulsion provides a vibration free ride.

Specifications :

Model building : Medium difficulty

Scale of drawing: 1/100th,
two plans , thirty five colour photographs, one notice (french).