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Home , Saimaa, Voima (1952 icebreaker)

The Finnish CONNECTION The Saimaa A Great maritime research tour to the Baltic Sea finds many shared interests

The Great Lakes delegation to included (from left) Stacey Carlson, Research Assistant, and Richard Stewart, Co-Director of the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute; James Frost, Senior Consultant with Halifax-based CPCS Transcom; Adolf Ojard, Executive Director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority; Craig Middlebrook, Deputy he Great Lakes and the Baltic Sea have Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation; and Dave Knight, Special Projects Manager a strong – and multi-dimensional - for the Great Lakes Commission. Tmaritime kinship.Both water bodies represent vital marine trade routes that helped define their respective regional economies and cultures. Both play strate - gic geopolitical roles on their respective con - tinents. The two share many physical similarities such as relative size, climate, hy - drography and topography. And both share a number of pressing environmental issues including ballast-borne invasive species, the threat of toxic spills, non-point source pol - lution and nutrient loading. Even the salinity difference is not as pro - nounced as many might think; while the Baltic is technically “brackish,” its salinity is much lower than ocean water and in some reaches with heavy tributary inflow Applied Sciences in , Finland, initially Centre of Finland and Kymenlaakson Uni - the water is almost as fresh as the Lakes. began sharing information in June of 2007 versity. Thus it was only natural that when two on project work Rytkönen has done in - Over a five-day period, the six-member maritime researchers met in 2007, one from volving vessel tracking and automated iden - Great Lakes delegation travelled from its the Baltic nation of Finland and the other tification system (AIS) technology. The base in east to the Finnish ports of from the Great Lakes, they found much to dialogue brought Rytkönen to the U.S. Vuosaari and Kotka, and to the Saimaa talk about. It was a conversation that has twice over the past year for presentations Canal near the Russian border; west to the since led to a growing number of collabo - to the GLMRI Advisory Board, and at the port of ; and south across the Baltic rative efforts, including a recent week-long 2008 Marine Community Day conference to the Estonian port of Tallinn. In addition tour of Finnish maritime facilities by a Great in Cleveland, and eventually led to the con - to vessel tracking, other topics explored in - Lakes delegation. cept of an organized visit to Finland. Reci - cluded container feeder lines; icebreaking “This is a partnership we have developed procally, Steward has travelled to Finland design and technology; ballast water man - and hope to continue to develop, involving twice, including the Great Lakes tour, when agement; port design and operations; canal student, professor and researcher exchange he took the opportunity to make a presen - and lock operations; and shipbuilding. programs, and joint research programs,” tation to Kymenlaakson maritime students Maritime traffic in the Baltic can involve said Prof. Richard Stewart, co-director of and professors on U.S. maritime education the movements of some 2,000 ships at any the Great Lakes Maritime Research Insti - and research, and the state of Great Lakes given moment, many in concentrated choke tute (GLMRI) at the Universities of Wis - shipping. points and heavily travelled shipping lanes. consin-Superior and Minnesota-Duluth. Vessel tracking/AIS was just one of the The Finnish Maritime Administration – re - Stewart and Prof. Jorma Rytkönen, re - interest areas explored during the “Tour of sponsible for some 10,000 miles of navi - search director of maritime and port oper - Finland’s Maritime Community” sponsored gation channels - thus implemented in ations for the Kymenlaakson University of by GLMRI, the VTT Technical Research 2004 a sophisticated new Vessel Traffic Ser -

20 www.greatlakes-seawayreview.com INTERNATIONAL

Below top: The novel “oblique hull” design by AKER tering northeast Atlantic waters or the Baltic Arctic uses azimuthing thrusters to break ice going sideways. Below bottom: Azipod thrusters used in Sea. Finnish design. While touring the greater port of Helsin - ki, the Great Lakes delegation saw some fa - miliar sights, such as towering piles of coal What’s creating the aside a electrical generating plant, and some most buzz in icebreaking decidedly unfamiliar ones like stacks of con - tainers, multiple cruise and ferry terminals, technology today? and an entire fleet of , each of which would dwarf the marquee icebreak - According to Wilkman, ing vessel on the Lakes, the U.S. Coast Guard’s Mackinaw. azipod thrusters and Finland’s proficiency in icebreaking is broad and pride-filled, as befits a maritime vessels that break ice country located entirely above the 60th par - allel. Nowhere is that proficiency more ev - most effectively going ident than at the Research Center in a newly developed port complex backwards, or even in the eastern Helsinki suburb of Vuosaari. Under the AKER corporate umbrella since sideways. only 2005, the Center’s roots go back over half a century to 1954 when it was part of vice (VTS) Center and Re - lowest total since 1999 when 488 dis - the storied Finnish firm Wärtsilä and de - porting System (GOFREP) not unlike the charges were recorded from 4,883 hours livered its first icebreaker, . AIS technology currently used in the Great of aerial surveillance. The Center has since been involved in Lakes/Seaway system. Monika Stankiewicz, manager of HEL - arctic navigation projects for over 100 While the Great Lakes do not have the COM’s maritime office, attributed much of clients in 20 countries. It has run over 400 same volume of traffic, Lakes mariners face the credit for the improvement to the new hull test series and designed 60 percent of many of the same navigational hazards - ice, AIS capability, saying, “The comparison of all the world’s icebreakers, including the shoaling, inclement weather and restricted the time before we had AIS to today is like U.S. icebreaker/oil tanker Manhattan, the channels – for which tracking systems like the difference between the Middle Ages and first commercial ship to transit the North - VTS and GOFREP can reduce risk, and en - the modern world. Ships used to think they west Passage in 1969. It was also involved hance environmental safeguards. could go anywhere with impunity but that with the Great Lakes Winter Navigation “Initially our tracking system was based is no longer the case.” Demonstration Program in the 1970s, solely on improving maritime safety,” said There has been interest among some which its current sales and marketing man - Olli Holm, VTS manager at the Finnish Great Lakes states in the use of AIS tech - ager Göran Wilkman recalls working on Maritime Administration. “But we have seen nology for monitoring ballast operations on personally. increasing emphasis on environmental pro - the Lakes for better control of ballast-borne AKER was consulted on the recent de - tection, as well.” invasive species, but this application is not sign and construction of the USCG’s Great Ship traffic on the Baltic has grown ex - yet a priority for HELCOM. Lakes icebreaker Mackinaw commissioned plosively over the past three years – by some “We do not have requirements for bal - in 2006. Said Wilkman of that project, “It 64 percent - driven primarily by increased last discharge reporting in place for the was a real challenge because the Coast oil shipments from the Gulf of Finland. A Baltic,” said Stankiewicz, “We cannot make Guard wanted to include so many func - total of 3,628 outbound oil-laden tankers such requirements without IMO (Interna - tionalities in the beginning, and then kept were recorded in 2007, up from 1,436 in tional Maritime Organization) involvement, adding more.” 2003. But, thanks to new tools like the VTS, and if they are not globally enforced.” AKER Arctic’s view of the world is per - GOFREP and a Baltic-wide AIS developed HELCOM’s ballast policy is closely fectly captured by the wall-sized map in its in 2005 by the Helsinki Commission (HEL - aligned with the IMO’s Ballast Water Man - conference room: it depicts the globe look - COM), oil spills from accidents and illicit agement Convention, which the nine HEL - ing straight down from the North Pole. It vessel discharges have steadily gone down. COM states have agreed to ratify by 2010, is indicative of the burgeoning international HELCOM, formally the Baltic Marine or 2013 at the latest. HELCOM is also join - interest in arctic resources that in only its Environment Protection Commission, is ing an initiative developed by the OSPAR third year, the AKER-sponsored Arctic Pas - comprised of the nine countries surround - Commission, a 15-country European coali - sion Seminar in March attracted some 1,800 ing the Baltic Sea, plus the European Com - tion for environmental protection of the participants. munity. According to data from HELCOM northeast Atlantic, under which all vessels The centerpiece of its new laboratory fa - member states, 236 oil spills were detect - transiting the Atlantic or coming from the cility at Vuosaari is a 229-foot long, 24-foot ed in 2006 during 5,128 hours of surveil - coast of West Africa voluntarily carry out wide, 6.4-foot deep model ice testing basin, lance flights over the Baltic, the second an open ocean ballast exchange before en - the only such privately-owned facility in

GREAT LAKES /SEA WAY REVIEW October-December, 2008 21 INTERNATIONAL

the world, which is capable of testing scale tion on a 620-acre greenfield site started in facility is designed to handle up to 12 mil - model hulls, propulsion units and other 2003 and the port was scheduled to open lion metric tons a year, including 450,000 arctic maritime structures in realistic ice for business in November. teu’s worth of containers, 65 percent by ro- conditions. Researchers can monitor per - When the Great Lakes delegation vis - ro vessel, and 35 percent by container ships. formance from above the ice, and from ited in September, container cranes were The import/export balance will be nearly below using windows beneath the tank. still being floated in by barge from the even, with consumer goods inbound and What’s creating the most buzz in ice - Netherlands, and an empty ro-ro ship was forest products and steel outbound, most breaking technology today? According to practicing its docking maneuvers. moving to Germany. Wilkman, azipod thrusters and vessels that The project represents an investment of “All of our traffic will be from short sea € break ice most effectively going backwards, 660 million in infrastructure alone, and shipping,” said Kari Noroviita, Director of or even sideways. Using azimuthing propul - is a model 21st century port in every re - the Vuosaari Harbour Centre. “All will be sion, AKER’s novel “oblique icebreaker” de - spect. Serving Finnish trade exclusively, the scheduled liner services and feeder lines, sign uses a ship’s entire length to break ice, with average vessels in the 900-teu range, allowing a relatively narrow vessel to open transporting containers from the major con - a wide track for larger, wider ships. tainer ports of Rotterdam and Bremerhaven. From the AKER ice lab, to the contain - We will not have much direct overseas traf - er cranes and ro-ro ramps, to the access fic. But we have integrated the Container highway tunneled under a forested ridge Security Initiative (CSI) developed by the line to preserve wildlife habitat, and even a U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Pro - golf course, everything about the port of tection so we can handle any containers Vuosaari is new. It was conceived in the bound for the U.S. and perhaps even the early 1990s to relocate operations The “double-acting” icebreaker Mastera breaks ice Great Lakes.” from the congested and ever-more-gentri - while going backward. The list of Vuosaari’s designed-in green fied center city port of Helsinki. Construc - features would be the envy of many an en - vironmental engineer: noise berms, catch basins for leaking containers, radiation con - Linking lakes to the sea, Scandinavian-style trol systems, closable storm water drains, and the afore-mentioned highway and rail A man-made shipping route running through new agreement.” tunnels deliberately designed to preserve two countries, utilizing a series of locks, link - The total / Saimaa system native woodlands. Even the golf course ing a vast inland lake system to the ocean, and includes 504 miles of deep channels with 13.7 clubhouse has a green roof of living vege - open about nine and a half months a year. foot draft, 967 miles of main channels with 7.8 tation. Sound familiar? It could be the Great Lakes/St. foot draft or more, and 745 miles of branch Asked whether a “cold ironing” capa - Lawrence Seaway system…or the Saimaa Canal. channels at 7.8 feet or less. Maximum vessel size bility was considered (for ships to use shore- Though smaller in scale, the Saimaa shares for the locks is 270 feet in length, 41-foot beam based power while berthed allowing them many characteristics of the Great Lakes/Seaway and 14.2 feet draft. The canal serves five main to turn off diesel generators for cargo han - system, and thus was of keen interest to the Finnish ports, with bulk carriers (mostly Russ - dling equipment), Norovita said the port’s Great Lakes delegation on its recent tour of Fin - ian) hauling forest products, pulp and paper and designed cargo handling efficiency of up to land. raw iron and steel in and outbound. It closes for 35 container lifts an hour, made turnaround The modern Saimaa Canal was completed in winter from the end of January to April, for an times so short that cold ironing was deemed 1968 to connect the Lake Saimaa inland water - average 211-day navigation season. unnecessary. way system to the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic The Saimaa Canal has truly lived up to its ex - At Vuosaari, later at the port of Kotka, Sea. It replaced an earlier, smaller version built pectations; traffic projections made before work and finally at the ports of Turko and in the mid-1800s. While the engineering chal - began in the 1960s estimated annual volumes Tallinn, the Great Lakes group saw a re - lenge of the new canal was formidable – 26.6 ranging from 700,000 to 1.2 million metric tons. curring pattern: ports with largely diversi - miles of 13.7-foot draft channel with eight locks In recent years, canal tonnage has averaged 1.5 fied and high-value cargo profiles, served lifting vessels almost 250 feet above sea level million tons and in 1990 a record volume of 1.83 by carriers with well-maintained, up-to-date – the political accomplishment represented by million tons was set. fleets and equipment, linked together as an the Saimaa seems almost more amazing. Most impressive to the Great Lakes delega - efficient, short sea, maritime transportation Its construction was made possible by an tion, however, was the technology used by the network supported by healthy public and treaty struck between Finland and the then So - Finnish Maritime Administration to operate the private investment in technology and in - viet Union in 1963, during one of the frostiest canal. It is all done remotely from the Saimaa frastructure. eras of the Cold War. Under the agreement, Fin - VTS center in , with operators mon - In other words, something to which land signed a 50-year lease for all sections of itoring and controlling each vessel transit using Great Lakes/Seaway interests have long as - the canal in Russian territory, including the main video cameras, remote censors and AIS. Vessel pired and from which they can take en - entry to the Gulf of Finland at , Russia, crews are responsible for securing their ships in couragement, having now seen it work so and five of the eight locks. Finland controls and the lock chambers, so the eight locks and seven well in the Baltic setting. operates the entire system. lift bridges on the canal are all virtually un - For her part, the Helsinki Commission’s “Negotiations are currently underway to manned. Thus a vessel’s seven-hour trip from Monika Stankiewicz was direct in her as - renew the lease with Russia, which expires in the sea to the Lake Saimaa is entirely under the sessment of what drives such an effective sys - ten years,” said Kari Jämsen, supervisor of the control of one lockmaster sitting at an array tem, and it is not a complicated formula. Saimaa vessel traffic control (VTS) center. “We of screens, monitors, joysticks and toggles. “In the Baltic,” she said, “Transportation think there will be little difficulty in reaching a means prosperity.” David L. Knight I