Icebreaker Polaris

Designed to perform escort icebreaking

Polaris is Finland’s newest icebreaker. It is designed to perform escort icebreaking as its primary duty and, in addition, to operate in oil response readiness and readiness to carry out search & rescue and emergency towing tasks. With its dual-fuel engines and other green technology features, it has been called the most environmentally friendly icebreaker in the world.

The purchase of Polaris was carried out as part of the EU-part-funded WINMOS project (Winter Navigation Motorways of the Sea). We were involved in both phases of the WINMOS project in 2012–2016.

In the pre-examination phase of the new icebreaker procurement process, we made an extensive analysis of the requirements of the new generation Baltic Sea icebreaker for the Finnish Traffic Infrastructure Agency. At that stage, the possibility was also considered that the new icebreaker would have a polar class level ice classification PC3, so that it could also be used, for example, as a search and rescue vessel in arctic regions. We also prepared draft-level drawings of both versions. In the end, the Finnish government made a decision that the ship’s operational profile would only consist of tasks performed in domestic waters.

We conducted the conceptual design of the vessel in cooperation with Aker Arctic and the Finnish Traffic Infrastructure Agency. In the conceptual phase, various propulsion solutions were analyzed, and in the end the Finnish Traffic Infrastructure Agency settled on a solution where there is one rudder thruster in the bow of the vessel and two in the stern. We made the final conceptual design material in half with Aker Arctic. We did the steel structure, special equipment, interior and deck equipment designs, as well as the oil prevention system design. In addition, we were responsible for the open water model tests that were carried out at VTT.