A public reference property of Baalvion

Open data · every figure carries its source

World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

A public reference property of Baalvion

Open data · every figure carries its source

World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

Schmidt Ocean Institute

Headquarters: Palo Alto
Founded: 2009
Employees: —

Official website

Ships in this registry

Counted from individual vessel records · Wikidata

Reported fleet size

—

No published figure available

Container capacity

—

Not a ranked container line

Gross tonnage on record

—

Summed over 0 ships reporting tonnage

In brief

What Schmidt Ocean Institute is

Full article ↗

Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit operating foundation established in March 2009 by Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt. The Institute's goal is to advance innovative oceanographic research and discovery through technological advancement, collaborative research, outreach and education, and open sharing of information. SOI supports oceanographic research by providing collaborators with free ship time aboard their research vessel RV Falkor (too) and expert technical shipboard support. Collaborating researchers and institutions utilizing Falkor commit to openly share and communicate the outcomes of their research, including raw observations and data. Research proposals are reviewed through a peer-reviewed process and assessed based on their potential for technological innovation, oceanographic research, and overall impact. Since its inception in 2009, SOI has supported over 60 expeditions all around the globe.

Origin

Who founded it

Schmidt Ocean Institute was founded in 2009 by 2 named founders on record. Portraits are shown only where a freely licensed photograph exists and its photographer is known.

Founder

Eric Schmidt

1955

software engineer, businessman, former Google CEO

Photo: Charles Haynes · CC BY-SA 2.0 · file

Founder

Wendy Schmidt

1955

philanthropist

Photo: Ben Gibbs · CC BY-SA 4.0 · file

Corporate profile

Identity and registration

Legal name: —
Industry: —
Legal form: 501(c)(3) organization
Country of registration: United States
Headquarters: Palo Alto
Formed in: —
Founded: 2009
Dissolved: —
Employees: —
Head office coordinates: 37.4167, -122.1333

Ships on record here: 1
Vessel types operated: 1
Flag states used: 1
Average vessel age: 15.0 years
Oldest vessel on record: 2011
Newest vessel on record: 2011
Largest vessel by tonnage: —
Average tonnage: —
Market share: —
Parent company: —
Alliance: —
Record source: wikidata
Last refreshed: 2026-09-05

Fleet on record

What this company sails

Composition of the 1 vessels this registry attributes to Schmidt Ocean Institute. Bars are true proportions of that set, not of the company's full fleet.

By vessel type

Research / survey1

By flag state

Cayman Islands1

By shipbuilder

Freire Shipyard1

Delivery history

10-year fleet record

Ships delivered in each of the last 10 years, counted from the recorded build year of vessels attributed to this company, with the running total of its fleet on record. No deliveries fall inside this window — this company’s vessels on record were all built earlier.

Year	Gross tonnage added	Fleet on record
2017	—	1
2018	—	1
2019	—	1
2020	—	1
2021	—	1
2022	—	1
2023	—	1
2024	—	1
2025	—	1
2026	—	1

Vessel records

Ships on record · Research / survey

Show all types

Ship	IMO	Type	Flag	Built	Gross tonnage	Deadweight	Length	Builder
Polar Queen / Falkor	9523378	Research / survey	Cayman Islands	2011	—	—	—	Freire Shipyard

Ships in registry counts individual vessel records attributed to the company here. Reported fleet is the company’s published total. They measure different things and are shown separately on purpose.

In context

How Schmidt Ocean Institute compares

Counts over companies and vessels actually held in this directory — not over the world fleet, which is larger. Nothing here is estimated.

With 1 vessels attributed to it here, Schmidt Ocean Institute is the 492nd largest of the 965 operators in this directory that hold at least one ship on record, against a median of 2 across that group. That is a count of individually identified hulls, not the company’s published fleet size — the two are different measurements and both are shown above where available.

United States is the country of registration for 144 commercial operators in this directory, among which Schmidt Ocean Institute ranks 55th by ships on record. Between them those companies hold 435 vessels here. 1 of them carry a published container-capacity ranking. See every operator registered in United States.

Founded in 2009, Schmidt Ocean Institute is 17 years old. This directory holds 105 operators founded within five years either side of that date, whose median fleet on record is 1 ships. The median founding year across all commercial operators here is 1966, and the oldest on record dates to 1514.