Sir

Those involved in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) are delighted by your encouragement of their work in your Editorial 'Drill often, drill deep' (Nature 449, 260; doi:10.1038/449260a 2007) and News Feature 'Staying afloat' (Nature 449, 278; 2007). However, it is not correct to state that the IODP's US platform, the JOIDES Resolution, has languished at a shipyard since 2003. This research vessel completed 10 expeditions between June 2004 and December 2005, each with a full complement of scientists from the United States, Europe and Japan.

The JOIDES Resolution has been in a Singapore shipyard since September 2006, undergoing a complete overhaul. Work has continued since it entered the shipyard, although the hostile business climate described in your Editorial has caused a few delays, as sky-high oil prices have meant higher costs and increased pressures for time in the yard. Interested readers can track progress via pictures of the overhaul at http://www.joiscience.org/SODV/status.

The JOIDES Resolution is scheduled to resume drilling activities in spring 2008. The shipyard schedule, weather conditions and Japanese fishing-fleet restrictions will not allow it to join its sister ship, the Japanese Chikyu, in 2008. But the JOIDES Resolution will be an active participant in NanTroSEIZE, the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment, by 2010.