Spotted: Havyard’s Icebreaker Aleut Gives It a Whirl

Norwegian shipbuilder Havyard Ship Technology will name its newest icebreaker Aleut at Skoltekaien quay in Bergen on Saturday.

Featuring a length of 86 meters and a width of 19,5 meters, Aleut is designed and built to operate under extreme arctic conditions.

Havyard said that the icebreaker class ship can break one-metre-thick ice at 3 knots, and added that its de-icing system allows it to withstand temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius.

Aleut also has the ability to ram into and break ice ridges with 8-metre-thick ice under water, the company added.

During the sea trial, the speed was measured at 16 knots and the bollard pull was just above 200 tonnes.

“There were some challenges at the beginning of the project, but things have gone according to plan after that. The extensive sea trials have also gone very well,” Havyard’s Project Manager, Erlend Hatleberg, said.

Once it has been named by the vessel’s godmother Nadezhda Lyshko, Aleut will sail to Murmansk in Russia to stock up on equipment and provisions. Afterwards, the vessel will start its charter contract with Russian oil company Gazprom to service the Prirazlomnoye platform.

Havyard’s two icebreakers, delivered in 2006, already service this field.

The Havyard 843 ICE design vessel is the first of three vessels ordered for the Russian shipping company FEMCO.

The contract for the delivery of the design and building of this icebreaking offshore vessel was signed in November 2013.

World Maritime News Staff; Image: Havyard