The next Russian icebreaker (or more like an icebreaking rescue and salvage vessel) will be built in… * drum roll * Turkey!
Quite a surprising move.
Other recent icebreaker-related news:
- Yantar Shipyard was awarded the construction of MPSV06M type icebreaking rescue vessel for Marine Rescue Service of Russia. The Kaliningrad-based shipyard was the only company to submit a bid for this tender. MPSV06M is a further development of the MPSV06 design, based on which two vessels (Murman and Beringov Proliv) were built in Germany because attempts to build the ships in Russia where somewhat less successful (see below).
- Onego shipyard was awarded the construction of two Project 23620 type LNG-powered icebreakers for Russia’s and the world’s largest icebreaker operator, Rosmorport. The shipyard, located in Lake Onega, was the only company to submit a bid for this tender. It will be interesting to see how they will float the icebreaker, which likely has a light draught of something like 6-7 metres, through the shallow channels.
- Sefine Shipyard in Turkey was awarded the construction of IBSV02 type icebreaking rescue and salvage vessel for Marine Rescue Service (link above). It’s not hard to guess how many bids were submitted for the tender. ISBV02 appears to be partially derived from icebreaking support vessels Aleksandr Sannikov and Andrey Vilkitsky built for Gazprom Neft few years ago.
- No-one seems to be willing to build a Project 21900M2 type diesel-electric icebreaker for Rosmorport. The third tender with a 40 % higher maximum contract price concluded few days ago with zero bids. One such icebreaker, which is a further development of a design used for three existing icebreakers, is already under construction at Pella Shipyard in Germany.
- Amur Shipyard, which is building the lead MPSV06 type icebreaking rescue and salvage vessel, asked for a two-year extension to the contract and more money to finish the vessel. The unfinished icebreaker named Kerchenskiy Proliv, heavily hit by international sanctions and a few other problems, has been under construction for more than ten years already and the current level of completion is estimated at 70 %.
- The world’s largest nuclear-powered icebreaker and the lead ship of the Project 22220 (LK-60) type, Arktika, has returned to Saint Petersburg where the starboard propulsion motor will be replaced before the next winter season. One half of the tandem motor was damaged by a short circuit during sea trials.
Oh, and Ukraine reportedly purchased the paid-off RRS James Clark Ross. It’s not a “real” icebreaker, but an icebreaking Antarctic research and supply vessel built for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in the early 1990s and recently replaced by RRS Sir David Attenborough (“Boaty McBoatface”).
Canadian Coast Guard ends up paying almost CA$1 billion (US$800 million; 680 million euro; 7 billion Norwegian krona) for three second-hand icebreaking AHTS vessels built in Norway 20 years ago:
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Either the ice has opened up more, is thinner than usual this year, or this Polar Research Vessel is a real Icebreaker.
PS> It appears to be the first, as the Xue Long 2 is Polar Class 3, with ICEBREAKING CAPACITY: 2-3 knots average speed in 1.5 m of level ice with 20 cm snow cover:
The ice in the central Arctic ocean is not particularly thick at this time of the year. 1.5-metre icebreaking capability is more than enough to make it to the North Pole in mid-August. After all, KV Svalbard did it around this time in 2019 and Kapitan Dranitsyn nearly made it there in February 2020.
KV Svalbard has Polar Class 10 but it doesn’t say her icebreaking capability:
https://www.lmgmarin.no/references/61/kv-svalbard
Another icebreaking research vessel is soon heading home:
The NUYINA outbound from Schiedam heading for Vlissingen Photo : Willem Holtkamp ©
KV Svalbard’s continuous icebreaking capability is about 1 metre.
Three Finnish icebreakers representing three different generations on a dry dock:
One more icebreaking research vessel.
The now Italian Laura Bassi (ex Ernest Shackleton, ex Polar Queen)
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=3324958
She set an Italian record on her first trip to the Ross Sea:
https://www.enea.it/en/news-enea/news/antarctica-the-bassi-record-no-italian-ship-has-ever-gone-so-far-south
She is now in the Arctic, off Svalbard:
Icebreaker USCG Healy is making another attempt at an Arctic adventure:
Wish them better luck this time around.
Semper Paratus !!!
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It’s amazing that a propulsion motor fire has become an “engine fire” due to the ignorance of the press.
Something we may not see again - 3 US Polar Breakers . This Polar Sea, Glacier, and Northwind from Deep Freeze 80
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Another beautifull shot of the NUYINA departing from Vlissingen heading for Australia:
Photo : Mateo Witte (c)
It’s funny how the Wind-class icebreakers are still referred to as “heavy” or “polar” icebreakers even though they were not particularly heavy or powerful by modern standards.
Atomflot’s port icebreaker Ob(ster the lobster) has almost exactly the same displacement as the Wind class (5,900 tonnes) but instead of 12,000 shp packs 12 megawatts…
