SUBMIT IMAGE: The Swedish Maritime Administration’s 1974-built Atle, among 5 icebreakers in Sweden’s fleet. Photo: Aker Arctic

Finnish- based Aker Arctic has actually been chosen to create next-generation icebreakers for the Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) as well as the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency (FTIA).

The brand-new icebreakers will certainly give companion procedures efficient in helping bigger vendor ships in the Baltic Sea.

“The size of merchant vessels entering Finnish and Swedish ports is growing, and increasing environmental requirements gradually limit the engine power of the vessels,” Aker Arctic claimed a news release. “The growing size of vessels that need assistance and the weakening of their abilities to handle ice-covered waters make it difficult for vessels to pass through ice masses in challenging ice conditions in the Baltic Sea, which increases the need for icebreaker assistance.”

The growth of the brand-new icebreakers will certainly begin with r & d of an idea style. The brand-new style will certainly be needed to be able to aid ships with 32 meters beam of light. They will certainly additionally require to have cost-efficient procedures, low-cycle prices, as well as the capability to shift to fossil-free gas by 2030.

“This new ship will represent a completely new generation of icebreakers. It will incorporate design, construction and operational experience from existing Baltic assistance icebreakers as well as our other icebreaker designs, said Reko-Antti Suojanen, Managing Director of Aker Arctic. “As the operational requirements and environmental conditions are changing in the Bothnian Bay, we will work closely with the Finnish and Swedish operators to jointly develop a solution that best answers to the future icebreaking needs. With an operational lifetime spanning half a century, the new icebreaker must be designed to comply with future emission goals. Responding to this major technological challenge today will require us to apply the full extent of our icebreaker design expertise as well as to utilize the latest environmental technologies developed by the maritime industry.”

A theoretical style is anticipated to be chosen in March 2021 when the very first price price quote for the building and construction of the icebreaker is readily available. After this, the emphasis will certainly get on the style information as well as building and construction spec, which will certainly create the basis of the shipyard tendering procedure once a choice to construct the icebreakers is made.

“Our foreign trade and competitiveness are based on year-round security of supply. The stocks of import and export logistics are largely located in moving ships. An adequate level of assistance available from icebreakers is a prerequisite for ensuring that the raw materials and different products are in the right place at the right time. New types of solutions are expected from this design project to respond to changes in the operating environment as well as to maintain an adequate level of service also in the future”, claims Kari Wihlman, Director-General of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency.

“The Swedish industry is dependent on icebreaking in the Baltic Sea up to 130 days a year. Our current fleet is old with increasing needs of repairs. Therefore we very much look forward to the design of the next generation of icebreakers to service larger ships in a fossil free environment,” commented Katarina Nor én, Director-General of the Swedish Maritime Administration.