ICE AGE II
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EDITORIAL
ICE AGE II
On September 28th, 2016, a powerful newcomer joined the Finnish Icebreaker fleet, as the icebreaker Polaris was delivered to the Finnish Transport Agency. A true masterpiece of Finnish shipbuilding, Polaris is the world’ s first LNG-powered icebreaker with new, innovative design in the vessel’ s hull form and propulsion unit arrangement. This prototype vessel, built at Helsinki Shipyard, is designed to serve for at least 50 years in icebreaking, oil recovery and sea rescue operations. Polaris has also been a long time coming – we haven’ t seen a Finnish icebreaker with similar size range since 1994.
Polaris serves as a great reminder of the long traditions of Finnish arctic seafaring and marine technology. The know-how of winter seafaring has been – and still is – a crucial lifeline for Finland, as about 80 % of the country’ s foreign trade is transported by sea. Finland is also the only country in the world whose sea around the ports can be frozen during every winter. Add to this, the shallow and fragile Baltic Sea, and you see the catalyst for the Finnish drive to develop innovative Arctic technology and know-how.
Looking at the Finnish economy, it is clear to see that marine industry is one of the most internationalised and global business branches in the land. The Finnish marine industry binds together a strong network of SMEs that keep extending their business reach internationally. The Finnish marine industry involves many global brands, products, and companies which set the course of world markets.
One example of the innovative nature of Finnish marine industry is the autonomous maritime ecosystem programme, which was also launched in September. The aim of the programme is to provide world’ s first unmanned maritime products, services and vivid ecosystem by 2025 – including testing of autonomous vessels in the harsh weather conditions in Finland.
In line with the Finnish digitalisation strategy, the programme will take Finnish maritime forward and pay tribute to the centennial year of 2017, as the Finns come together to celebrate 100 years of independence. Co-inciding with the milestone year, Finland also takes over the two-year chairmanships of the Arctic Council and Arctic Economic Council. The proposed themes of the programme for Finland’ s chairmanship of the Arctic Council include e. g. climate change in the Arctic and wellbeing in arctic communities. These chairmanships give a great opportunity for the maritime industry – especially its Arctic branch – to further upgrade its profile and expand its expertise.
PETRI CHARPENTIER
1 / 2017
PUBLISHER PubliCo Oy Pälkäneentie 19 A FI-00510 Helsinki Finland Phone + 358 20 162 2200 info @ publico. com www. publico. com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Petri Charpentier
PROJECT MANAGER Jaakko Lätti
EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Vappu Virtanen
GRAPHIC DESIGN Riitta Yli-Öyrä
CONTRIBUTORS Sami J. Anteroinen Merja Kihl Ari Mononen
COVER PHOTO Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd
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