The capacity of Finland's aging icebreaker fleet is declining. In order to increase the capacity, the government has granted funding for the procurement of a new icebreaker.
The new icebreaker has the properties of a conventional icebreaker, which will be optimised to provide efficient icebreaker assistance in the Baltic Sea under all ice conditions. In addition, the icebreaker will be designed to perform oil spill response and emergency towing operations at open sea.
The design and construction of the icebreaker will be put out to tender in 2013. The new icebreaker will be taken into service during the season 2015–2016.
The total cost of the procurement is 125 million euros, of which the oil spill response accounts for 5 million euros.
Operations put out to tender
The services of the shipping manager in charge of crew and maintenance will be put out to tender for periods stretching over several years. In this way the ownership and operating costs are made more transparent. In Sweden a corresponding model has proven satisfactory.
Design criteria for the new icebreaker:
- Sufficient assistance capacity at open sea, average assistance speed 9-11 knots in all ice conditions in the Baltic Sea
- Sufficient width of broken ice channel: 24-26 m
- Good towing features: fork and winch
- Maximum draught 8 m enables operations in all main channels
- Sufficient mass and manoeuvrability for operations in difficult ice conditions