| IMO | 9896191 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 6,603 GT |
| Length | 107.6 m |
| Beam | 17.6 m |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 196 |
| Crew | 72 |
| Service speed | 15.0 knots |
| Builder | Brodosplit |
| Yard | Split |
| Launched | 2021 |
| Maiden voyage | 2021 |
| Operator | Oceanwide Expeditions |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Janssonius is a Polar Class 6 expedition ship for Oceanwide Expeditions of the Netherlands, built by Brodosplit at Split, Croatia, launched on 11 March 2021 and delivered for a first expedition season beginning in late 2021. She is the sister and follow-on to Oceanwide's Hondius (2019), the ship with which the Dutch polar specialist moved from converted tonnage to purpose-built newbuilds.
Oceanwide is an expedition purist among polar operators — its fleet history runs from a former naval research vessel and two sailing ships to small motor expedition vessels — and Janssonius embodies that philosophy at modern standards: 170 passengers in normal expedition operation (196 on her passenger certificate), an ice-class hull, fast and flexible Zodiac operations, and hotel comfort deliberately kept informal and mid-century in style rather than luxurious in the mega-yacht sense.
Her name honours Johannes Janssonius (1588–1664), the Amsterdam cartographer and publisher, son-in-law of Jodocus Hondius — the cartographer for whom her sister is named. The pairing of names is itself a small piece of Dutch maritime-cartographic history, continued across Oceanwide's fleet of explorers' and mapmakers' names.
Key specifications
Dataset: 6,603 GT, 107.6 m by 17.6 m, 196 passengers maximum, 15 knots, Brodosplit Split, 2021. Oceanwide's own specification, reproduced by its agents, reads slightly differently and the difference is worth explaining: passengers 170 in 80 cabins, staff and crew 72, length 107.6 m, breadth 17.6 m, draught 5.30 m, Polar Class 6 (equivalent to 1A Super), displacement 5,590 tonnes, propulsion by two ABC main engines totalling 4,200 kW, speed 15 knots.
The dataset's 6,603 GT is shared exactly with Hondius in the roster and is treated here as the class gross tonnage of record. The 5,590 figure in Oceanwide material is displacement, not gross tonnage — the two numbers are sometimes confused in secondary listings (Ship Technology, for example, labels 5,590 t as gross tonnage), and the distinction is logged in the batch notes. Passenger figures reconcile the same way: 170 is the expedition complement in 80 cabins; 196 is the maximum certificate figure the dataset uses.
Design and construction
Ordered after Hondius's successful entry into service, she was announced in June 2019, with steel cutting in December 2019 and keel laying in June 2020 at Brodosplit — hull number 485 in the yard's reporting, following Hondius as 484. The yard's launch release records that about 70 percent of equipment and materials were Croatian-made, a point of national industrial pride in the ceremony speeches. She was launched on 11 March 2021, with godmother Tanja Mravak of the Center for Autism Split and student Karlo Kolak cutting the rope for the champagne in the yard's account — a launch honour given to the centre rather than to a celebrity, characteristic of the ship's low-key provenance.
Design priorities are operational: a protected indoor Zodiac loading area usable also for kayaking preparation, two separate gangways to speed ship-to-shore movement, bow and stern thrusters for precise station-keeping, and one full deck given to a large observation lounge with a separate lecture room for the multilingual lecture programme. Environmental specification includes LED lighting, steam heating, biodegradable paints and lubricants and power management aimed at minimising fuel burn and CO2 — the standard Oceanwide claims, plausibly, make her among the most environmentally considerate ships in polar waters.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
Named for Johannes Janssonius, as above. Launched 11 March 2021 at Brodosplit (Newbuilding 485), completed and delivered in autumn 2021 in programme reporting, she was planned to sail her maiden expedition to South Georgia in November 2021, per Ship Technology's project record, opening an Antarctic first season before Arctic deployment — the standard Oceanwide annual rhythm. The dataset records maiden voyage simply as 2021, consistent with that programme.
Career by operator
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2021–present | Janssonius | Oceanwide Expeditions |
Single name, single operator. In the fleet she is the second purpose-built unit, operating alongside Hondius and the converted Plancius and Ortelius and the sailing vessels Rembrandt van Rijn and Noorderlicht — the modern half of a deliberately mixed polar fleet. No charter, transfer or renaming is recorded.
Onboard character
Character, in Oceanwide's own descriptions, is "cozy and informal" beneath a stylish mid-century modern décor: cabin categories run from quadruple porthole cabins — a category luxury expedition ships have abandoned, retained here for groups and families — through twin porthole, window and deluxe cabins to superior cabins and grand suites with balconies (six suites and eight superior cabins with balconies in the launch specification). One deck is given wholly to observation and lectures, with interactive workshops and presentations in several languages.
The product is expedition-first: days shaped by landings, Zodiac cruises and wildlife, evenings by lectures and recaps in the lounge, and comfort pitched at good small-hotel level rather than at spa-and-butler luxury. That positioning — and the retention of triple and quadruple cabins — defines her niche against the luxury yachts that dominate new polar tonnage.
Major refits and incidents
None recorded. A 2021 ship in early career; no major refit, casualty or notable incident appears in the sources used for this guide. Her construction proceeded through the pandemic, which Brodosplit's launch remarks addressed directly in terms of keeping the yard a safe workplace — context, not an incident involving the ship.
Sister ships and class
Her sister is Hondius (2019), Brodosplit hull 484, of the same Polar Class 6 design, dimensions and capacity, ordered from the same yard after which the class — unnamed formally in the dataset — is recognisably a two-ship Brodosplit polar class for Oceanwide. The dataset's class field is blank. No third unit has been recorded in the sources used.
Fate and where she is now
Active with Oceanwide Expeditions, per the dataset, operating the operator's Arctic, Antarctic and sub-Antarctic programme as its newest ship alongside Hondius. No sale, charter or renaming is recorded, and none is expected for a ship purpose-built for a specialist owner in the first decade of her life. Her fate, for now, is exactly the work she was drawn for: small-ship polar expedition service under a Dutch flag of cartographers' names.
Sources: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/MV-Janssonius-1655; https://www.brodosplit.hr/en/news/polar-cruise-ship-launched-in-brodosplit/; https://www.ship-technology.com/projects/janssonius-cruise-ship/