Shipyard change: Research vessel Meteor IV approaches final construction stage

The research vessel Meteor IV set off on its final construction phase on Good Friday. It is to replace two research vessels.

An illustration by Meyer Werft shows the Meteor IV.

(Image: Meyer Werft)

Apr 18, 2025 at 10:30 pm CEST

2 min. read

By

Kristina Beer

The research vessel "Meteor IV", which is still under construction, left the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg on Good Friday. It will move to the Fassmer shipyard in Berne for the final stage of construction. If everything goes as planned, the ship will be commissioned in 2026 and will be used for national and international climate and environmental research, primarily in the Atlantic.

Modeled on the sun

The Meteor IV is to replace the Meteor, which has been in service since 1986, and the Poseidon, which has already been decommissioned. The contract was awarded to the two shipyards in December 2021.

The research vessel has a length of around 125 meters. In addition to 35 researchers, the new ship will offer space for 36 nautical and technical crew members. There will be 585 square meters of space on board for science, including eight laboratories. High-precision echo sounders as well as research winches and research wires of up to twelve kilometers in length will enable measurements to be taken in the depths of the oceans. Fiber optic hybrid wires can transmit high-resolution video data in real time.

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According to the "Portal Deutsche Forschungsschiffe", the new ship is based on the deep-sea research vessel "Sonne", which went into service in 2014 and was also built by Meyer Werft.
Although it is slightly shorter than the Meteor IV at 116 meters, it offers space for 40 scientists, a crew of 32 and has 17 laboratories covering a total of 600 square meters.

First Meteor 100 years ago

If the Meteor IV had been completed in 2024, it would have been exactly 100 years
after the Reichsmarine's first Meteor was ready for service. A second Meteor was operated by the German Hydrographic Institute (DHI) from 1964 to 1985, followed by the third Meteor in 1986.

The home port of the "Meteor IV" will be Kiel. A detailed project diary on the construction of the Meteor IV can be found at Project Management Jülich. The overall project management lies with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.