| Passenger capacity (max) | 199 |
|---|---|
| Builder | Brodosplit |
| Yard | Split |
| Launched | 2020 |
| Maiden voyage | 2021 |
| Operator | Quark Expeditions |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Ultramarine is Quark Expeditions' first purpose-built owned ship, delivered by Brodosplit at Split, Croatia, on 1 April 2021 after more than five years of development. She is a Polar Class 6 expedition ship for 199 guests whose whole design is organised around getting people off the ship and into the polar environment faster and in more ways than any predecessor: she carries two twin-engine helicopters operated from two heliports, and twenty quick-deploy Zodiacs that can be launched from four embarkation points. Quark's president Andrew White called her, at handover, "more than a new ship… a game-changing vessel," and for once the launch rhetoric matches the specification — no expedition ship before her combined helicopter operations at that scale with a full Zodiac fleet in a ship of her size.
Key specifications
The dataset row for Ultramarine is deliberately thin: it records her builder, her maiden-voyage year (2021) and her maximum capacity of 199 guests, and leaves her IMO number, tonnage, dimensions and speed blank because they were not pinned to a citable source at dataset build — the roughly 13,000 GT appearing in orderbook tables was a pre-construction estimate and was not used. Delivery reporting from the yard and the operator fills some of the picture, attributed here rather than presented as dataset fact: Marine Log's delivery report gives 13,762 GT and a length of 128 m (the same report's text also says 125 m — an internal inconsistency, logged in the build notes), 103 staterooms, a staff and crew of 140, a cruising speed of 15 knots in open water, and Ice Class 1A+ / PC6. Those figures are the best published delivery-era set, but they are flagged here as reported, not registry-verified.
Design and construction
Ultramarine was designed by LMG Marin of Bergen, Norway (a Sembcorp Marine subsidiary) and built by Brodosplit at Split, with construction finance from the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development backed by a state guarantee; her cost was reported at more than €100 million. She left Brodosplit in December 2020 for dry-docking at the Viktor Lenac yard at Rijeka, returned to Split for test runs and final equipment, and was handed over on 1 April 2021 in a ceremony attended by Quark's operations leadership and the yard team. The design's sustainability feature is a Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGS), which converts waste to energy where it is generated, avoiding the transport of waste out of polar regions. Her endurance was reported at up to 70 days without refuelling or resupply — the autonomy a polar ship needs when her operating areas have no infrastructure.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
Ultramarine was launched at Brodosplit in May 2020 (launch ceremony 16 May 2020, per Quark Expeditions' own release) and the dataset gives her maiden voyage simply as 2021. Her delivery on 1 April 2021 is firmly documented; her first guest voyages followed in the 2021 season, in the pandemic-disrupted restart of expedition cruising. Her name is a Quark coinage for the colour of deep polar water and ice-shadow, rather than a name carried over from any earlier ship.
Career by operator
Ultramarine has had a single name and operator.
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2021–present | Ultramarine | Quark Expeditions |
Her career is Quark's polar programme in both hemispheres' seasons — the employment every part of her design serves. Earlier Quark capacity was chartered; Ultramarine made the line a shipowner-operator of its own flagship. This guide does not track her itineraries.
Onboard character
Ultramarine's character is operational. The two H145 helicopters and twin heliports exist to put more guests, more often, into places reachable only by air — flightseeing, heli-hiking and landings beyond walking range of any shore boat. The twenty Zodiacs and four embarkation points exist to erase the queueing that limits landing time on a conventional expedition ship. On board, the ship is fitted as the base camp for that activity: expedition-ready public space, a spa and wellness area among the facilities Quark highlighted at delivery, and accommodation for 199 guests in 103 cabins. She is the clearest example of the 2020s expedition ship type — a vessel whose amenities are measured in access, not in venues.
Major refits and incidents
No refit has been reported for Ultramarine, and no significant incident involving her had been reported in the sources used for this guide at the time of writing.
Sister ships and class
Ultramarine has no sister ship; she is a one-off design for Quark Expeditions. Her Brodosplit yard-mates Hondius and Janssonius, built for Oceanwide Expeditions, come from a different, smaller design, and should not be confused with her — the dataset build notes log their class figures separately. If Quark orders a second ship to her design, this section will change; as built and delivered, she is unique.
Fate and where she is now
Ultramarine is in active service with Quark Expeditions (status as recorded in the dataset), as the line's polar flagship.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_Expeditions; Quark Expeditions delivery release (1 April 2021) via PR Newswire; Marine Log delivery report (2 April 2021); MarineLink delivery report (April 2021).