BAS Secures Antarctic Station Resupply for the Next Decade

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has joined forces with the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) and Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) to share an ice-capable vessel that will resupply three Antarctic research stations for the next 10 years. 

The Silver Mary will visit Halley VI station every other season, along with Norway’s Troll station and Germany’s Neumayer station.

The partnership builds on the successful UK-German partnership that resupplied Halley in 2023-24. The first call to Halley VI under the new agreement is planned for January 2026.  

NPI will operate annual voyages south, with BAS typically joining every other season and sharing voyage costs. The arrangement gives BAS flexibility to increase calls when needed to support additional science projects at Halley VI station and achieves significantly better value than chartering vessels independently. 

The new logistics model also creates valuable capacity for the BAS-operated RRS Sir David Attenborough by removing the need for a dedicated, time-intensive, ship call to Halley, creating 40-60 days of ship time that can be dedicated to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-funded research cruises and science delivery elsewhere.

Using one shared vessel instead of multiple national expeditions cuts the carbon footprint of Antarctic logistics. This season, all three National Antarctic