In 2024 Belgium’s new Belgian scientific research vessel Belgica will only be able to sail the high seas a third of the year due to a lack of budget. As a result, no expedition to the North Pole will be able to go ahead in 2024. This VRT News has learnt from e-mail traffic shared with our newsroom. It’s news that has also been confirmed by the secretary of state for science policy, Thomas Dermine (Francophone socialist/PS). The Belgica was built 2 years ago and cost 54 million euros.
Belgian research ship Belgica stuck at the quayside two-thirds of the year due to lack of cash
Colin Clapson
Published:
"The dream of every Belgian scientist", that is what the newest research vessel of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Navy was called when it was first commissioned two years ago. The Belgica is a 71-metre-long floating laboratory designed to sail from the polar regions to the equator 300 days a year.
However, it now appears that not enough budget has been provided to send the ship out to sea for long stretches of time. An email sent to VRT News by concerned scientists reveals that the Belgica will only be able to sail 128 days next year, less than a third of what was planned.
Science secretary Thomas Dermine has confirmed the news: "In 2024, 128 sailing days have been budgeted. Several avenues are being explored in the hope of increasing this number of days, in order to meet high demand and make a full return on the investment".
"There is huge demand from the scientific community and that is brilliant. The Belgica should be able to carry out as many expeditions as possible."
Due to the limited number of sailing days, no expedition to the North Pole will be able to go ahead next year. Disappointing, says Jasper Pillen, deputy president of the Flemish liberals and alderman in Bruges, home of the Belgica.
"If you build a €54 million ship, equip it with the latest technology on board, and only let it sail a third of the time, that is short-sighted and grossly inadequate."
"We are talking about several million euros, which is a lot of money, but as part of the total federal government budget, it is not actually an awful lot," says Pillen. "The Arctic is a really important area: geo-strategically, militarily, but also scientifically. We need to allow the Belgica to sail as much as possible and so additional money needs to be made available."
Email traffic shows the government is trying to free up an additional €1.89 million to allow the Belgica to sail 210 days next year. Mr Dermine's office told VRT that a half a million euros extra has already been allocated in 2023 on top of the planned budget.