RSV Nuyina left Hobart on 20 October 2026. The voyage opens the Antarctic season. The icebreaker is carrying 90 passengers and over 950 tonnes of cargo. The cargo includes two helicopters, food and equipment to resupply Davis research station for the year ahead. More than half of that total is cargo and equipment for the Antarctic Infrastructure Renewal Project (AIRP), which will upgrade or replace key station buildings at Davis over the next six years.
The work is part of the $272.5m Davis Critical Infrastructure Works. AIRP cargo includes a containerised pump house, a reverse osmosis plant, two excavators and two six-wheelers. This is the first significant work at Davis by the Antarctic Infrastructure Renewal Alliance (AIR Alliance), the design and build consortium delivering the project. 21 AIR Alliance people will be at Davis this summer. A number are travelling on RSV Nuyina. The rest will fly in once the Wilkins ice runway opens, or come via McMurdo, the US station.
The Davis rebuild starts with water
New water production facilities are the AIR Alliance's main objective this summer. The work includes a new pump house with seawater intake and a new reverse osmosis plant near the station's tarn. Sitewide reticulation services will link those facilities to the rest of the station. Earthworks for a new utility building and foundations for the old living quarters are also part of this summer's program. The utility building, which will house the new main powerhouse and workshops, starts construction in late 2027. The full Davis Critical Infrastructure Works are expected to be completed in 2032.
The passage from Hobart to the first stop-off point will take about eight days. That point is roughly 80 nautical miles from Casey research station, and critical cargo will be flown off by helicopter. RSV Nuyina will then continue to Davis, breaking ice to reach a static position about one kilometre from the station buildings. The helicopters may fly off earlier, with personnel on board to help set the station up for resupply. The wintering expeditioners already at Davis will be offered flu and COVID shots before the main group arrives.
Voyage Leader Christine Macmillian said the voyage is special because the ship is breaking ice to get to Casey and Davis. She said the ship will be in the ice and surrounded by icebergs within four days of heading south.
Construction season carries science too
Once she takes over at Davis, incoming Station Leader Bec Jeffcoat will have led every Australian Antarctic station and Macquarie Island through a winter. Her community will be large and mixed: expeditioners, scientists, tradespeople and construction staff.
A remediation scientist is accompanying the AIR Alliance team to Davis. Soil and water sampling will support human health and ecological risk assessments in the construction footprint. After Davis, the scientist continues to Casey to lead the A Cleaner Antarctica Program. A 25-year package of bioremediation work reaches completion this year. It returns Antarctic soil once affected by hydrocarbon fuel spills to the environment at concentrations considered safe for marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
The 2026-27 Antarctic season is now underway. For anyone booking a voyage in the region, the question worth asking an operator is whether the Davis construction program affects ship traffic and station access in the Australian Antarctic Territory.