Russia’s Norilsk Nickel has announced ordering an Icebreaker8 class icebreaking vessel at Helsinki Shipyard Oy in Finland to the design developed in cooperation with Aker Arctic Technology Oy.
The icebreaker will be deployed in the Yenisei River basin, the Yenisei Bay and Kara Sea escorting and Norilsk Nickel’s Arc7 ships and towing its partners’ Arc5 vessels to and from the port of Dudinka. The icebreaker will be registered in Murmansk.
For the time being, the vessel model has been successfully tested in the Aker Arctic’s ice basin and Helsinki Shipyard has concluded contracts for the supply of main equipment and mechanisms for the vessel.
The icebreaker will be equipped with dual-fuel engines enabling it to operate on both VLSFO and LNG becoming the first LNG-powered icebreaker in the Northern Sea Route.
The vessel will be double acting capable of operating both ahead and astern in ice up to 2 meters thick. It will be equipped with a helipad.
The construction is to start in 2022 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.