 | |
 Quark Expeditions first purpose built ship, 'Ultramarine' | |
| Founded | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Seattle, United States |
Key people | Andrew White, President |
| Services |
|
| Parent | Travelopia |
| Website | www.quarkexpeditions.com |
Quark Expeditions is a travel company that offers polar region expeditions aboard expedition ships and icebreakers.
Quark Expeditions was founded in 1985 by Mike McDowell, initially specializing in small-ship dive expeditions. It then transitioned to polar expeditions, where McDowell had prior experience as the expedition leader of the MV Explorer.
In 1990–1991, McDowell chartered the MV Frontier Spirit during its inaugural season of operations for several voyages to Antarctica from Hobart, Australia and Bluff, New Zealand. After these voyages, Mike McDowell partnered with Lars Wikander.
In 1998, McDowell sold his interests to Lars Wikander, who then became the company's majority owner. Three years later, Wikander became chairman of the board when Patrick Shaw joined the company as president and CEO.[ citation needed ]
In May 2007, the company became part of the UK-based TUI Travel group of companies; subsequently, in 2016, it became part of Travelopia, a division comprising some brands from the former TUI Specialist Group.[ citation needed ]
In 2012, the company advertised that it was offering the first "carbon-neutral" polar expeditions with the Ocean Diamond. The former ro-ro ship uses Bunker C heavy-duty oil, and one voyage produces an estimated 5,682 tons of CO2. The tour operator signed a contract with the certifier The CarbonNeutral Company. [1]
In 2016, the company mounted an Arctic expedition involving internet personalities and YouTube creators including Ben Brown, Tim Kellner and Tom Scott led by retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. [2]
The company's summer 2019 program in the Arctic included sailings to Greenland, Canada's High Arctic, the Northwest Passage and the North Pole. [3]
In April 2021, Quark took delivery of its first solely owned ship Ultramarine from Brodosplit shipyard in Croatia. [4]
In 1991, Quark Expeditions was the first consumer-led expedition to the North Pole. [5] The company has the largest and most diverse fleet of passenger vessels in the Antarctic. [6] Quark offers both cruises and land-based expeditions. Expeditions are held on the following ships:
| Icebreakers | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Year Completed | Shipyard | Passenger Capacity | Ice-class | Notes | |
 | 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory) | 1993 | Baltic Shipyard | 128 | LL1 (the highest rating possible) [7] | |
 | Kapitan Khlebnikov | 1981 | Hietalahti Shipyard, Finland | 108 | LL3 [8] | |
| Expedition Fleet | ||||||
 | Ocean Adventurer | 1975 | Brodogradilište, Kraljevica, Yugoslavia SFR Yugoslavia (now Croatia) | 128 | 1A | To be retired from Quark expedition service in October 2024 [9] |
 | World Explorer | 2019 | WestSEA Shipyard, Viana do Castelo, Portugal | 172 | 1B | Chartered from Mystic Cruises, will be renamed STAR EXPLORER and will be handed over to Windstar Cruises in December 2026. [10] |
 | Ultramarine | 2021 [11] | Brodosplit shipyard, Croatia | 199 | 1A+, PC6 [12] | First ship fully owned by Quark Expeditions |
| Ocean Explorer | 2021 | Haimen shipyard, Jiangsu, China | 138 | 1A, PC6 [13] | Chartered from Sunstone 2024/25 Antarctic season replacing Ocean Adventurer [14] | |
Quark Expeditions is a long-time, active member of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators and Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators, and promotes various sustainability initiatives. [15] [16] In 2012, the Ocean Diamond made a carbon-neutral voyage to Antarctica. [17]
Quark has received several industry awards, including from Travel Weekly and National Geographic . [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]
RV Polarstern is a German research icebreaker of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, Germany. Polarstern was built by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel and Nobiskrug in Rendsburg, was commissioned in 1982, and is mainly used for research in the Arctic and Antarctica. The ship has a length of 118 metres and is a double-hulled icebreaker. She is operational at temperatures as low as −50 °C (−58 °F). Polarstern can break through ice 1.5 m thick at a speed of 5 knots. Thicker ice of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) can be broken by ramming.
A nuclear-powered icebreaker is an icebreaker with an onboard nuclear power plant that produces power for the vessel's propulsion system. Although more expensive to operate, nuclear-powered icebreakers provide a number of advantages over their diesel-powered counterparts, especially along the Northern Sea Route where heavy power demand associated with icebreaking, limited refueling infrastructure along the Siberian coast, and endurance required make diesel-powered icebreaker operations challenging. As of 2023, Russia is the only country that builds and operates nuclear-powered icebreakers, having built a number of such vessels to aid shipping along the Northern Sea Route and Russian arctic outposts since the Soviet era.
The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is a shipping route about 5,600 kilometres (3,500 mi) long. The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the shortest shipping route between the western part of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region.
The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica, known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) from the South Pole.
Yamal is a Russian Arktika-class nuclear-powered icebreaker operated by Atomflot. She is named after the Yamal Peninsula in Northwest Siberia; the name means End of the Land in Nenets.
Oden is a large Swedish icebreaker, built in 1988 for the Swedish Maritime Administration. It is named after the Norse god Odin. First built to clear a passage through the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia for cargo ships, it was later modified to serve as a research vessel. Equipped with its own helicopter and manned by 15 crew members it has ample capacity to carry laboratory equipment and 80 passengers, functioning independently in harsh Polar ice packs of the Arctic and Antarctic seas. It was the first non-nuclear surface vessel to reach the North Pole, together with the German research icebreaker Polarstern. It has participated in several scientific expeditions in Arctic and Antarctica.
Kapitan Dranitsyn is a Russian icebreaker, built in Finland for the former Soviet Union. Since October 1995 she has been used as a research vessel by AARI. She also offers excursions in the Arctic Ocean north of Russia.
CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent is a Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) heavy icebreaker. Louis S. St-Laurent's home port is St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. She is the largest icebreaker and flagship of the CCG.
Kapitan Khlebnikov is a Russian icebreaker. The vessel now operates as a cruise ship offering excursions to the Arctic and Antarctic.
National Geographic Orion is operated by New York City-based Lindblad Expeditions - National Geographic.
Xue Long is a Chinese icebreaking research vessel. Built in 1993 at Kherson Shipyard in Ukraine, she was converted from an Arctic cargo ship to a polar research and re-supply vessel by Hudong–Zhonghua Shipbuilding of Shanghai by the mid-1990s. The vessel was extensively upgraded in 2007 and 2013.
MV Ocean Adventurer is an ice-capable expedition cruise ship operating commercial voyages to both polar regions, with Quark Expeditions of Seattle, Washington, United States.
Silver Explorer is an expedition ship operated by Silversea Cruises. The ship typically hosts cruises to Norway, the South Pacific, and Antarctica. It is the first ship of Silversea involved in expedition cruising.
Heritage Adventurer is an ice-strengthened expedition cruise ship built in 1991 by Rauma shipyard in Finland. She was originally named Society Adventurer, but after Discoverer Reederei was unable to take delivery of the vessel due to financial troubles, the completed ship was laid up at the shipyard for almost two years. In 1993, she was acquired by Hanseatic Tours and renamed Hanseatic. In 2018, she was chartered to One Ocean Expeditions and renamed RCGS Resolute through a partnership with the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. In 2021, she was acquired by Heritage Expeditions and, following an extensive refit, entered service in 2022 with her current name.
DIAMOND XI is a cruise ship renamed in 2024, previously operated by Quark Expeditions as Ocean Diamond. She was previously named Song of Flower, Explorer Starship and Le Diamant.
MV Akademik Shokalskiy is an Akademik Shuleykin-class ice-strengthened ship, built in Finland in 1982 and originally used for oceanographic research. In 1998 she was fully refurbished to serve as a research ship for Arctic and Antarctic work; she is used also for expedition cruising. She is named after the Russian oceanographer Yuly Shokalsky.
Oceanwide Expeditions is a Dutch company specializing in expedition-style voyages to Antarctica and the Arctic. Deploying its own fleet of ice-strengthened vessels, Oceanwide emphasizes small-scale, flexible tours that provide passengers close contact with polar wildlife, landscapes, and historical sites. Tours usually take place in regions only accessible by sea, with little to no infrastructure. The locations visited are first reached by ship, after which expedition guides take small groups of passengers to landing sites by way of Zodiac Milpro RIBs, enabling safe cruising and maximum shore time.
Hebridean Sky is a cruise ship owned by London-based cruise company Noble Caledonia. As an ice-rated vessel she has operated as an expedition cruise ship in Antarctica and in the Arctic. She was also known under the names Renaissance VII, Regina Renaissance, Renai I, Sun, Island Sun, Corinthian II, Sea Explorer, Sea Explorer I.
Poseidon Expeditions is a provider of polar expeditions. The company was started in 1999 as a tour operator specialising in expedition cruises to the North Pole and the Russian High Arctic aboard icebreakers and ice-strengthened ships.
Lindblad Expeditions is an expedition travel company headquartered in New York, NY. The company currently offers expedition cruises to destinations on all seven continents aboard 15 ships with capacities ranging from 28 to 150 guests.