Call for projects 2022 for campaigns programmable from 2024 on offshore vessels
At the end of July 2022, we sent you information on the potentially strong impact of rising energy costs and inflation on the 2023 activity of the French Oceanographic Fleet. At the request of the MESR, Ifremer's Fleet Division has estimated the additional budget needed to meet the commitments set out in the Fleet's specifications at €9m: 450 days of scientific activity assessed on deep-sea vessels and 960 days on coastal and semi-shores vessels. This assessment has been sent to the MESR.
The Fleet Steering Committee met on 12 September 2022 and noted that no new information had become available since last July, with the international energy crisis making the State's budgetary planning more complex.
The Steering Committee has therefore decided to postpone the 2022 call for offshore projects for campaigns scheduled from 2024 onwards. It will meet in mid-October to take a final decision on whether or not to open this call for projects.
Furthermore, with the full support of the Fleet Steering Committee, Ifremer has emphasised to the MESR the financial requirements necessary to meet the Fleet's activity objectives in 2023 and wishes to continue preparing a programme in line with its commitments (see above). However, it is highly likely that government decisions and the amount of the subsidy for the Fleet will not be known before the end of November 2022. If the final amount of the subsidy does not allow FOF to maintain financial equilibrium, the Steering Committee will have to review the 2023 programme at the beginning of the year.
We are fully aware of the great difficulty that this unstable situation can put you in, but we must, like the State, face up to an unprecedented situation that does not allow us to stabilise assumptions at this time. In order not to jeopardise the future, we are continuing to prepare all the campaigns that could potentially be programmed, and in the coming weeks the operations managers of the naval operations division will continue to interact with those of you whose missions are planned for 2023.
Olivier Lefort Director of the French Oceanographic Fleet, on behalf of the IR* French Oceanographic Fleet Steering Committee