“Furthermore, the agreement will
naturally have a positive effect on the employment at the Rauma shipyard.”
The design work on the new research vessel has already commenced and
the ship will enter production in September 2010. The ship will be delivered to the
South African Department of Environmental Affairs in spring 2012.
MASTERING ICE
Dealing with ice, of course, is the forte of
Finnish specialised ships expertise. About
60 percent of the world’s icebreakers have
been designed or built by STX Europe and
Finnish shipyards have had a key role in
this. The STX Europe’s knowledge of ice
technology is unparalleled and the company unique expertise in new purpose-built
solutions, such as multipurpose ice-breakers, the double-acting ship (DAS) concept
for icebreakers, tankers and supply vessels.
The double-acting vessel concept
means the ship travels bow-first in icefree conditions and approaches ice sternfirst using azimuthing electric propulsion.
A recent example of this Fesco Sakhalin which provides icebreaking and support operations to the Sakhalin offshore
project. This combined icebreaker, offshore
supply and standby vessel of Far Eastern
Shipping Company (Fesco) is one of the
most sophisticated and versatile ships ever built for arctic operations.
The Fesco Sakhalin also has fire-fighting and rescue capability and is fitted with
high-tech equipment for oil spill recovery.
Rauma shipyard delivered the vessel in
2005.
DAS RULES
According to Suistio, the South African
vessel will not be a double acting, since
the conditions do not require DAS. Still, he
believes that double acting capabilities will
be in demand in the future as offshore oil
and gas activities are entering icy waters.
“Azimuthing abilities are needed
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