RV Wim Wolff

RV Wim Wolff is a 37-metre-long coastal research vessel added to the research fleet in 2024. She serves as a floating base for shallow-water research in the Wadden Sea, Zeeland Delta, and North Sea coastal region. With a maximum draft of 1.20 metres and a working deck area of approximately 125 m², the vessel can operate close to shore while accommodating scientific operations typically reserved for larger ships.

RV Wim Wolff is equipped with A-frame, J-frame, side cranes lifting gear and deploying scientific instruments. The deck has modular workspaces for two containers, and wet and dry laboratories for immediate sample analysis on board. She accommodates up to 16 berths with room for 12 researchers and 4 crew members and supports expeditions lasting up to two weeks. 

Powered with sustainability in mind, the vessel is designed for reduced emissions and future compatibility with greener fuels. Cruising speed at 8 knots, and dynamic positioning (DP1) capability, the RV Wim Wolff enables effective sample collection, more precise instrumentation deployment, and extended monitoring programmes across Dutch coastal and intertidal waters.

A research vessel installs a yellow pole in shallow water using a crane on deck.

RV Wim Wolff installing receiver poles for the WATLAS project (photo: NIOZ)

Specifications

  • Length overall: 37 m
  • Beam: 10 m
  • Max. Draft: 1.20 m
  • Max. number of berths: 16 (12 passengers + 4 crew)
  • Service speed: 8 knots 
  • Dynamic positioning: DP1 
For more information, please contact the NMF coordinator
Aerial photograph of a research vessel sailing along the Wadden Sea's tidal flats

RV Wim Wolff in the shallow Waddensea (photo: Flying Focus)

Construction

The design brief for the RV Wim Wolff was presented in 2018 to the NWO Executive Board. In January 2021, after a careful selection process, Thecla Bodewes Shipyards was chosen to construct the vessel in Kampen and Harlingen. On February 15th 2024 the RV Wim Wolff was christened in the harbor of the NIOZ by Wim Wolff's five-year old daughter Charly Wolff and assisted by Caroline Visser, board member of NWO, the Dutch Research Council. 

Find a time line and the milestones of the construction here
A woman and child hold a colored ribbon for the christening of the research vessel Wim Wolff.

Christening of RV Wim Wolff by Caroline Visser and Charly Wolff (photo: NIOZ, Evalien Weterings)

Name

The successor of the RV Navicula is named after Wadden ecologist Wim Wolff (1940-2018). Wolff’s scientific career started in 1965 at the Delta Institute in Zeeland. After that, from 1975 onwards he headed the Department of Estuarine Ecology at the Rijksinstituut voor Natuurbeheer (RIN) on Texel in the NIOZ building. He compiled the “Ecology of the Wadden Sea”, which would later become the authoritative reference work about the Wadden Sea, written in collaboration with many researchers from Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

Read more
Thoughtful man in high boots sitting on an overturned bucket in shallow water

Wim Wolff at work in Mauritania (photo: NIOZ)