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Ar breaking. The idea is for the ship to be able to make headway in ice up to 60 centimetres thick, while carving a channel 50 metres wide – enough for large container ships to follow. The asymmetric hull has a major drawback, though. Modelling shows that it will pitch and roll irregularly at sea, and

“Rotating thrusters allow the asymmetric ship to swing round and attack the ice at an angle”

pilots will have to learn how to sail the vessel to compensate. “There are lots of different operational modes for the ship, –Well, steer me sideways– all of which had to be addressed when working out how to use able to punch channels about the power from each of the three 25 metres wide – too narrow for thrusters,” says Mika Willberg, Built to break the larger classes of container project manager at Arctech. ships. Doubling the escort widens “But, finally, after having trained A new breed of will accelerate the the channel, but at greater cost. on a simulator, you end up being At 76 metres long by 20 metres able to drive this vessel with a development of global shipping lanes in the Arctic wide, the Baltika will use its unique joystick system.” asymmetric hull to cut swathes The Baltika is expected to Olivier Dessibourg, 46 ships were granted passage through the ice. Each of the three stay in the Gulf of , but by Russia’s Northern Sea Route engine pods mounted around the subsequent boats of its design THE clank of hammers, the Administration. This year, the hull can rotate to deliver thrust could help open the Northern grind of machinery and the number is already over 250. in any direction. These azimuth Sea Route to global shipping crackle of welding torches echo For now, ice is the biggest hurdle thrusters allow the vessel to swing traffic. That includes oil and in a seemingly endless shed at to development of the route, round and attack the ice at an angle gas resources from the Arctic, the Arctech Helsinki shipyard and also hinders frigid ports in of up to 30 degrees (see diagram, which Russia is keen to develop. in Finland. Finland and neighbouring Russia. below). Meanwhile, fuel and bilge Should such shipments go Since June, about 200 workers can be hired as water is pumped around inside awry, Baltika will also come have been assembling the escorts, but they are typically only the hull to shift the vessel’s equipped to help clean up oil skeleton of the Baltika, the first spills. The vessel will boast an of a new breed of ice-breaking advanced petroleum-recovery ship designed to cut a wide path system suitable for operation through Arctic ice with its even in heavy seas. “Again, this asymmetric hull. On completion is made possible with the ship early next year, Baltika will enter moving sideways, against the service under the Russian flag, spill, and sucking the oil into clearing the way for large ships a 900-cubic-metre internal tank, bound for ports like St Petersburg which can separate the oil from in the Gulf of Finland. the water,” says Willberg. Baltika will be in the vanguard In the shipyard, the Baltika is of global shipping’s rush into the still mostly raw steel. Huge hull Arctic. Thinning ice is already components made in Kaliningrad, luring vessels to the waters off Russia, will soon be outfitted and Russia’s northern coast, which joined together. If all goes to plan, offer a shorter route from Europe Baltika will be in the water by to Asia than the typical passage November and breaking Arctic ice through the Suez Canal. In 2012, before next year’s spring thaw. n

3 August 2013 | NewScientist | 19