Arctic Passion News No 12 September 2016 First LNG Polaris

The construction of ’s new icebreaker has been Polaris in sea trials in spring completed at Arctech Shipyard. The, vesselPolaris , will 2016 outside Helsinki. be owned and operated by Ltd., a Finnish state owned company providing icebreaking services.She is the world's first LNG-fuelled icebreaker, which also makes her the most environmentally friendly icebreaker ever built.Polaris is based on the Aker ARC 130 concept developed by in cooperation with ILS and the Finnish Transport Agency.

Polaris is an exceptional icebreaker, as commercial vessels sailing on the Baltic andSisu are now forty years of age. she can exceed the performance of even Sea in terms of size and engine power," The ice belt is made of compound steel the highly regarded Finnish project manager Mika Hovilainen says. with a stainless steel outer lining. It Urhoand Sisu built in the 1970s, which "Most likely, vessels will become longer requires less service and saves fuel due have been widely recognised as the and slimmer and be equipped with to reduced corrosion when compared to most capable icebreakers in northern smaller engines. In difficult ice normal steel coated with abrasion- Baltic conditions. The main purpose of conditions, these vessels will need more resistant paint. All the basic work in Polaris is icebreaking and assisting other assistance and towing needs will manufacturing the hull has been done vessels in difficult ice conditions in the increase in the future." with the long service life in mind and northern Gulf of Bothnia, where ice In the most challenging ice conditions everything is made in accordance with ridges can grow to over ten metres thick such as heavy ridges, contact towing is the highest quality standards. Spaces for due to strong winds. It is common that usually needed. The benefit of the machinery and equipment are ridge formations are deeper than the chosen concept with a bow propulsion additionally planned so that it will be draft of the icebreakers. unit is thatPolaris will have exceptional easy to upgrade and make changes steering capability and performance in when it becomes necessary. Towing needs will increase ridge fields, even when she is attached Polaris is equipped with Wärtsilä 34DF During the design phase, two propulsion to the vessel she is towing. series dual fuel engines. They are concepts were compared: a more She is also able to perform oil spill equivalent of typical diesel engines, but traditional twin-azimuth concept and a response operations, emergency towing can also use LNG as fuel with triple-azimuth concept with two and rescue operations on the open sea significantly reduced emissions as a propulsion units in the stern and one in all year round. result. the bow. The triple-azimuth concept was "The two 400 m³ LNG tanks carry chosen as it turned out to be only slightly Fifty years of service enough fuel for ten days independent more expensive, but significantly Her planned service life is fifty years– operations in demanding ice conditions. improved the icebreaking performance twice that of typical commercial vessels Apart from LNG, low-sulphur marine and lowered operational costs. – and this long service life has been diesel can also be used to continue the "The Energy Efficiency Design Index taken into account in the design. By way autonomy time," Hovilainen adds. (EEDI) is expected to change of comparison, her predecessors Urho

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The ice belt is made of compound steel covered with a stainless steel layer to reduce ice resistance and maintenance costs.

Arctech Helsinki Shipyard

Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Arctech Helsinki Shipyard

The main engines are installed on the Polaris has three propulsion Mika Hovilainen is convinced that the main deck level. The vertical LNG tanks in units, one of which is in the bow of the new vessel will shine. the background can hold enough gas fuel icebreaker "Polaris is the world's most for 10 days of independent operation. environmentally friendly icebreaker, she can use LNG and she has enough Main tasks and features: Aker Arctic's design responsibilities: power and manoeuvrability for all her tasks. Her special hull form and ¢ Icebreaking and escort operations in ¢ Concept design including technical propulsion arrangement will minimise all prevailing ice conditions in the documentation for shipbuilding ice resistance and maximise the contract icebreaking capacity of the vessel. ¢ Oil spill response with Lamor's built-in ¢ Hull form and propulsion system I believe she will become the best and most efficient icebreaker in the Finnish mechanical recovery system and development fleet!" 1 200 m³ tanks for recovered oil ¢ Model tests in open water and ice ¢ High bollard pull and emergency ¢ Initial design of hull structure and “Extensive full-scale testing towing capability also in heavy seas machinery has been done during sea ¢ “No compromise” approach to ¢ In co-operation with ILS Oy and The trials,” states Jarkko Toivola, icebreaking operations; performance Finnish Transport Agency Head of Winter Navigation superior to all existing Finnish ¢ Technical support in procurement Unit at the Finnish Transport icebreakers process Agency. “Course stability of Polaris going ahead and General characteristics especially going astern is Tonnage: 3,000 DWT Speed: 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) better than in previous Length: 110 m (360 ft) (open water), 4 knots icebreakers with azimuth Beam: 24 m (79 ft) (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) in 1.8 m propulsion units, but still Draft: 8 m (26 ft) (design) (6 ft) ice manoeuvrability is 9 m (30 ft) (max) Endurance: 10 days on LNG exceptional. Open water : PC 4 Icebreaker(+) 20 days on fuel oil speed and bollard pull in both Installed power: 2 × Wärtsilä 9L34DF Crew: 16 (2 × 4,500 kW), 2 × Wärtsilä 12V34DF Builder: Arctech Helsinki Shipyard, 2016 directions exceed specified (2 × 6,000 kW), 1 × Wärtsilä 8L20DF requirements. Also response (1,408 kW) of the power plant is quick Propulsion: Diesel-electric; three ABB regardless of used fuel type; Azipod units, 1 × 6 MW LNG or MDO.” (bow), 2 × 6.5 MW (stern)

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