Book R/V Skagerak

It is your responsibility to identify the permits and clearances required for your cruise. As a Swedish governmental vessel, Skagerak requires a diplomatic clearance to enter another nation´s waters.

The Skagerak Team can support you and will be the ones to submit the documents to the Swedish embassy in the foreign country, however you are responsible to ensure that all required permits have been prepared within the time required.

A diplomatic permit is required for science conducted in any waters outside Sweden, and Marine Facility Planning (MFP) helps you identify this by showing the flags for any international waters your cruise will enter.

Also notice that a hydrographic permit is required for any multibeam surveys to be comleted within Swedish territorial waters. 

Here you must review and update your original application. In particular, you must provide detailed sampling plans because your plans impact our operational planning. We need to receive this information 2 months prior to your voyage departure. 

Please note – if you change your sampling plans considerably from your original application, it may impact your budget, number of berths, and the permits required. This is why we need the information as detailed as possible, and well before your departure. 

It is also important that any changes to your cruise plans are done through the MFP and not through the Captains. Please, do not hesitate to ask them for advice, but changes will only be approved by the Skagerak Team. 

Prior to departure, you need to provide the Skagerak team with names and email addresses of the scientific staff and students who will be joining you onboard. They will then receive an email requesting information on dietary requirements, medical information, Next of Kin and identification information. This data is required by law and/or for the safety of all onboard the ship. All data collected follows GDPR guidelines. 

Please notify your voyage participants of this requirement. We must receive this information at least a fortnight before departure.

You have the option to assign your cruise participants to specific cabins by dragging and dropping. This is not a required stage.

if the detailed cruise plan is not accepted by the Skagerak team and crew, a new detailed plan will be determined in a meeting between the applicant and the Skagerak team and crew. 

The Skagerak Team will provide you with one day for mobilisation (i.e. on-board, in-port preparation), free of charge. This day will, where possible, be the day prior to your voyage departure, however it may not be. You will be expected to bring all your equipment onboard during your mob day. Note that:

• Allocated mob days may be on a weekend.
• No meals will be provided during mob day unless requested several weeks in advance.
• You must notify us if you require the forklift or crane.
• You must notify us if you require mobilization from a port other than homeport.
• You must organize transport of any equipment to Nya Varvet in preparation for your mob day, this is not the responsibility of the Skagerak Team.
• If you require more mob days than what we allocate, you will need to include these additional days in your booking and pay the base day rate (or subsidised base day rate) for them. You must notify the Skagerak Team (not the crew) if some of your booked days are to be used for mobilization.
• If you need the ship to leave home port during your allocated mob day, you will be charged for all fuel.
• Any modifications to Skagerak that are required to use your specific equipment (e.g., electrical cabling), will be at cost to you and must be coordinated with through the Skagerak Office (not crew) well in advance of your voyage departure. If this work cannot be completed during your scheduled mobilisation day, you will need to book a ship day for it.

• In alignment with international standards, one weather day is added in-kind for every ten days booked. So, if you book 30 days, you will have 33 days available to you.
• For bookings less than ten days (or instances where the in-kind weather days are not enough) once your voyage has started you will need to pay for all days booked, even those where the ship is in port due to weather. If more than 20 percent of the voyage is cancelled due to weather, we will discuss on a case-by-case basis how to manage the costs.
• If your voyage is cancelled due to weather before commencement of the voyage, you will not be charged any ship time, however you will be charged for any additional costs that were incurred for the planning of your voyage (e.g., extra crew hired, mobilisation costs, scientific consumables).
• Changes to your booking (ie changes to voyage plan, number of days etc) can be made until 60 days prior to voyage. Any changes after this date may incur a cost, including being charged for days no longer booked.
• No costs will be charged to the user if the voyage is shortened or cancelled due to a technical issue on Skagerak. Our preference is to rebook any days cancelled due to technical problems.

When calculating how many days you need, you must include the days required to transit from homeport to your study site. The MFP software will help with this but note that these transit days are costed at the same day rate as your sampling days.

Skagerak has advanced equipment and a complicated on board IT network that supports it. It requires an on board technician to ensure that these work as required during your voyage. Where possible, a ship technician from the University of Gothenburg will be on board each voyage.

The number of berths that will be available for your voyage will depend on your operations because your operations determine how many crew members are required (either due to Swedish regulations or safety requirements).

The crew must, by law, have their own cabin. There are only five single cabins onboard, so for every additional crew member beyond that, we lose two berths. Additionally, a technician will always be on board (unless otherwise notified). 

You will be provided with one demobilisation day for the removal of all of your scientific equipment, samples, personal belongings and cabin cleaning. Please note:

• Demobilisation of ALL equipment should be done on the allocated day, regardless of whether the ship has a user on the following day or not. Please plan ahead of time to ensure this happens.
• Your demobilisation day may be a weekend.
• If there is a reason why all of your equipment cannot be removed on your demobilisation day, please contact the Skagerak Office, not the crew.
• No meals will be provided during demob day unless requested several weeks in advance.
• If you require more than one day you must notify the Skagerak Team (not the crew). You will be charged for any additional days.
• If you need the ship to leave home port during your allocated demob day, you will be charged for all fuel.
• All used cabins must be cleaned by the ship users, following the cleaning policy provided onboard. It is the responsibility of the Chief Scientist to check each cabin prior to final departure. If cleaning is not done appropriately, a cleaning fee will be charged.
• All laboratories and other spaces used during your voyages must be left clean and tidy.

The Skagerak Office is here to help with your planning, should you have any questions.

Our crew and technical team are also very capable and happy to provide you with advice. However, any decisions that impact operations (and therefore potentially personnel or budget) must be discussed with the Skagerak Office irrespective of whether it is first discussed with the crew.

Where possible, we will organise a pre-voyage meeting with a Captain approximately two weeks prior to departure of your voyage (virtual or in-person). It is important that they have received the detailed voyage plans well before this meeting so they can discuss any questions they might have. If possible, the meeting will be with the captain that will lead your voyage, but this may not always be possible.