New staff andnew innovationssee page 2

1 / 2012

First oblique icebreaker underconstructionCanada builds polar icebreaker

page 3

page 5

Improving ice-class tankers

New tools for ice monitoringKnowledge transfer at AARC

Tanker development in recent years on page 6

Page 12

Arctic Horizons project on page 16

February 2012

ArcticPassionNewsAker Arctic Technology Inc Newsletter

Arctic Passion News

2

Front cover AARC has continueddeveloping the Icebreaking Trimaranconcept.Model tests have shown thepotential of the Trimaran concept alsofor arctic waters.Annu Oikkonen andKari Laukia acquainting themselves withthe newest model. See also page 17.

Mikko Niini

Announcements

February 2012

The IACS members have been workingfor practically two decades in developing“harmonised” rules for vessels trading inpolar waters. The topic of safe navigationin those waters was finally considered tobe of such importance that the issue wasraised to IMO for creation of generalguidelines and finally - as aconsequence of the sinking of MSExplorer in Antarctica - a mandatoryPolar Code.The preparation of the mandatory PolarCode was started at IMO in 2010.Between February 13th to 17th, 2012,the IMO DE 56 meeting made someprogress, but unified understanding wasonly achieved on a few details and theexisting correspondence group will needto continue with further preparatory work.As a result of the situation the target datefor the Code was postponed for twomore years.The fundamental difference between theso far leading Baltic ice class regime andthe planned new Polar Coderequirements is that a future vessel's iceclass will not automatically guaranteevessel performance, but only the basichull and propulsion integrity and safety.The intended performance level and itsimplications on the class to be selectedwill become the responsibility of theOwner. This approach will better allowthe Owner to make a realistic riskassessment and to optimise new vesselconcept designs to meet his actualneeds. However for this approach theOwner should be capable of defining hisintended operation areas and seasonsand fully understand the risks ofnavigating in such icy waters.

Last summer 41 vessels passed throughthe Northeast Passage (Northern SeaRoute), carrying a total of 834.931 tonsof commercial cargo under sevenvarious flags. The Russian authorities'minimum requirement for these voyagesis a Baltic Ice Class IA, by definitionmade for passage in a channel made in0.8 metre thick ice. The transit season in2011 lasted from late June to the end ofNovember.On April 14th at 23:40 a hundred yearswill have passed since Capt Edward JSmith directed to the fatalcollision with an iceberg offNewfoundland. Have we learnt anything?Every year we see hundreds of largenon-ice class cruise ships calling invarious icy fjords in Alaska, Greenlandand Antarctica.Aker Arctic is undertaking serious work indeveloping and making sustainable, safeand economic operations possible inpolar waters. The shipping community,unfortunately, is still lacking properguidelines for safe access to theseareas, thus endangering innocent peopleand risking to make the work ofresponsible developers and industry nulland void in the case of a seriousaccident in the near future.TheArctic Council has already reached atreaty on joint search and rescue in theArctic waters. What we urgently need isa well prepared and enforced MandatoryPolar Code!

SS Titanic

The Polar Code is needed urgently

Kari LaukiaDesign Manager.Kari transfers to usfrom Kone MarineElevators and has astrong backgroundinArctic shipbuilding,earlier designingpropulsion systemsfor ice going vessels and later by deve-loping propulsion units e.g. the Azipod.

Annu OikkonenIce Physicist. Annugraduated fromUniversity ofHelsinki 2008 withgeophysics as hermain subject.Before joining AARCshe was working onher PhD in the department of physicswith special interest in Arctic sea ice.

Viljami Karhu in MemoriamAfter a sunny September weekend wereturned back to work, to hear the sadnews that one of our youngestemployees, Viljami Karhu, passed awaydue to a long lasting serious illness on15.09.2011. Viljami had been working inAker Arctic since spring 2009. He workedbesides his studies assisting in ice modeltesting. We remember him as a hardworking person with a great sense ofhumour.We will all be missing him.

Karl HambergKarl Hamberg haschosen to work part-time and has givenroom for KariLaukia as DesignManager whilecontinuing withAARC as SeniorAdviser, Ship Design and IPR.

Aker Arctic Technology Inc’s newsletterPublisher

Editor in chief Mikko NiiniTexts by CS Communicat ions OyLay-out Kari Selonen

Printed in February 2012 by DMP

ker Arct ic Technology IncMerenkulkijankatu 600980 H elsinki, FinlandTel. +358 10 670 2000Fax +358 10 670 2527info@akerarctic.f iwww.akerarctic.f i

:

:::

A

Topi LeiviskäManager of Re-search and TestingServices. Topi hasbeen working atAARC since 2008 asa Senior ResearchEngineer.

Source: An Bord magazine

The first unit of the Aker Arcticdeveloped Oblique Icebreakerconcept has been ordered bythe Russian Government fromArctech Helsinki Shipyard.

Oil spill combatAkerArctic and its predecessors haveworked intensively in development of arevolutionary new icebreaker conceptthat despite its small size can create awide channel and provide a solution foroil spill combat in harsh environmentalconditions. Last fall Arctech HelsinkiShipyard was awarded a contract tobuild the first multipurpose emergencyand rescue vessel for the RussianMinistry of Transport based on this ARC100 concept. Arctech was awarded thecontract together with Yantar JSC. Thevalue of the contract is about EUR 76million.The project was kicked off immediatelyand the vessel will be delivered inDecember 2013. The hull of the vesselwill be built in Kaliningrad by Yantarshipyard, which is one of the yardsbelonging to United ShipbuildingCorporation, a Russian state-owned

company and co-owner of Arctech. Theoutfitting and finalizing of the vessel willbe done by Arctech in Helsinki.

This new and unique multipurposeemergency and rescue icebreakerrepresents a completely new type oficebreaking and oil spill combattechnology. The vessel features apatented oblique design with anasymmetric hull and three Steerproppulling azimuthing propulsors, whichallow the vessel to operate efficientlyahead, astern and obliquely (sideways).The vessel can proceed in typical BalticSea ice conditions in continuous mode in1.0 meter thick level ice both ahead andastern and in oblique mode she will beable to generate a 50 meter widechannel in 0.6 meter level ice.The vessel will be used in icebreakingoperations and emergency towing ofvessels and floating facilities. It featuresa very advanced oil recovery systemsuitable for operation even in heavywaves. The vessel measures 76,4meters in length and 20,5 meters inbreadth. The three main diesel generator

sets run by STX diesels have a totaloutput of 9 MW. The total propulsionpower is about 7 MW.

says MikkoNiini, Managing Director of Aker Arctic.

Completely new technology

“Oil combat in ice conditions is one of themajor challenges for the international oilindustry. After many years ofdevelopment work the oblique icebreakerconcept represents a breakthroughapproach for the solution,”

“We are now developing the conceptfurther and introducing the improvedARC 100 concept in March at theLondon workshop of InternationalAssociation of Oil and Gas Producers,which is planning to establish a multi-million dollars development program formechanical spill recovery in iceconditions.”

Breakthrough foroblique icebreakerconcept

Arctic Passion News

3

February 2012

In the first phase Yamal LNG hired CB&ILummus to conduct a Pre-FEED with theaim of studying the overall viability of theidea and the alternative optionsavailable. In spring 2010AARC washired to support CB&I by studying thevarious shipping alternatives, ship types,ship sizes and possible locations of theexport terminal. Also some new andupdated environmental information,especially on the ice conditions, had tobe collected to be certain of the designbasis requirements. These weregathered by AARI of St. Petersburg withAARC's participation during winters 2010and 2011.

Development of LNGcarriersIn the FEED AARC has been workingdirectly with Yamal LNG in furtherdevelopment and optimisation of theLNG carriers for the challengingArcticroute from Sabetta in the Ob Bay overthe Kara Sea to the markets. First ageneric 200.000 m³ vessel was createdand model tested. The first iterationshowed that the size of the first optionhad to be modified and in July the testsverified the good performance and

One ofAkerArctic's mainongoing works recently hasbeen for OAO Yamal LNG, ajoint venture between Novatekand the French Total S.A. (20%),which has engaged AARC in theplanning of LNG production andtransports from their very richTambey gas field on the easterncoast of the Yamal Peninsula inthe village of Sabetta.

4

Arctic Passion News

Towards Arctic LNGFebruary 2012

AARC participated in April 2011 in a trialcargo shipment from Arkhangel toSabetta arranged by OAO Yamal LNG.The SA-15 class cargo vessel KapitanDanilkin was escorted by nuclearicebreaker Rossiya.

capabilities of the upgraded 170.000 m³vessel concept, powered by the newlydeveloped Aker Arctic Hybrid DAS™propulsion solution with one large centrepropeller and twin azimuthing pullingthrusters. This will give the vessels aperformance securing independentoperation with a minimum 5 knotsscheduled speed.AARC now continues with adaptation ofLNG driven machinery for ice operationtogether with Wärtsilä and ABB, creatingpractices and equipment for the icemanagement in the terminal area,performing the conceptual developmentof the LNG fuelled channel managementand terminal icebreakers and assistingYamal LNG in preparations for the

forthcoming shipbuilding and shipoperation international tenders. Tenderingphase will take place later in 2012.

Novatek sent ninetankers on NorthernSea Route in 2011In November 2011 OAO NOVATEKannounced that the Aframax tanker MT"Perseverance", had passed through theBering Strait into the Pacific Ocean andthus became the company's ninth large-size tanker in 2011 using the NorthernSea Route.

Novatek also established a new recordfor the longest use of NSR during asingle year, June to November. Duringthe period, NOVATEK transportedapproximately 600.000 tons of stable gascondensate to consumers in SouthKorea, China and Thailand. Two of thetankers, belonging to Neste Shipping'sPalva-class fleet, sailed under Finnish

flag and made it in record 6,5 days at a14 knot average speed.The regular use of the NSR hasestablished this route as an economicallyviable alternative to the existing routesthrough the Suez Canal and the Strait ofMalacca. The Northern Sea Route willalso be an integral part of thedevelopment of NOVATEK's Yamal LNGproject providing transportation routes forboth LNG and stable gas condensate.In 2011 the Aker Arctic DAS™“Zapolyarny” passed through the NSR

carrying anexport nickel cargo from Dudinka toChina, with return to Dudinka onNovember 24th. These have led OAOMMC Norilsk Nickel to consider buildinga larger Aker Arctic DAS™ type vessel“Leader” with the NSR ice conditions asa design basis.

inSeptember independently

The Aker Arctic Hybrid DAS™ hybridpropulsion performed well also in shallowwater brash ice.

5

Arctic Passion News February 2012

Canada to build polar icebreaker

Arctic OffshorePatrol Vessel to bebuilt in HalifaxSTX Canada Marine (previouslyKvaerner Masa Marine) is a navalarchitecture and engineering servicescompany with offices in Vancouver andOttawa. For almost 30 years they havebeen providing ship design andengineering services nationally andinternationally. In recent years, they havehad the privilege of working with the

Canadian Coast Guard on the design ofthe Offshore Oceanographic ScienceVessel (OOSV) and with the Departmentof National Defense on the design of theArctic Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPS) inwhich AARC also participated.On January 12, 2012 Irving Shipbuildingat their Halifax Shipyard facilityconcluded an agreement in principle tobuild Canada's combat vessels under theNational Shipbuilding ProcurementStrategy (NSPS). Irving Shipbuilding isprivileged to be poised to negotiate thecombat vessel contracts, commencingwith the Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels.

Aker Arctic participates in thedesign of the Canadian CoastGuard's new polar icebreaker.The Honourable James Moore, Ministerof Canadian Heritage, Official Languagesand Regional Minister for BritishColumbia on Friday February 3rdannounced on behalf of Minister ofFisheries and Oceans, and Minister ofPublic Works and Government Servicesand Minister for Status of Women animportant step forward for Canada'sNorthern Strategy: selection of thedesigners for the Canadian CoastGuard's future Flagship, the PolarIcebreaker,

commitment to support jobs and growth,and we look forward to seeing the

, designed and built in

CCGS John G. Diefenbaker.

Diefenbaker

Design teamAkerArctic is a member in the team ledby local STX Canada Marine that hasbeen awarded the contract to design thenew polar icebreaker for the CanadianCoast Guard. The awarding of this 9.5 MCAD contract formally launches thedetailed design effort for the PolarIcebreaker. Expected to take 18-24months to complete, STX CanadaMarine Inc. will, based on the conceptualdesign produced by the Canadian CoastGuard, advance the design work to thepoint where a comprehensive designpackage can be provided to VancouverShipyards Co. Ltd. to build the vessel.“I am pleased to announce that the teamat STX Canada Marine Inc. of Vancouveris taking on this important project,” saidMinister Moore. “This project is yetanother example of our Government's

Vancouver, defending Canada's Arcticsovereignty in the North.”

project will provide a significanteconomic boost to Canadian marineindustry and west coast shipyardworkers and marine related companiesin particular.

Boost to marine industryThe polar icebreaker will be named afterformer Prime Minister. It will be able tooperate autonomously for 270 days inthe Arctic, over a larger area, and inmore difficult conditions than any ofCanada's current icebreakers. The newicebreaker will be delivered to coincidewith the decommissioning of the CCGSLouis S St-Laurent in 2017. The PolarIcebreaker is one of the vessels includedin the National Shipbuilding ProcurementStrategy (NSPS) Non-Combat contractawarded to Vancouver Shipyards Co. Ltdin October. The vessel will, therefore, bedesigned and built in Vancouver. The

The new vessel will replace the CCGSLouis S St-Laurent as the CCG Flagship.The polar icebreaker will be designed toaccommodate 100 personnel with spacefor 25 additional people and have theability to break through 2.5 meters of iceat 3 knots.

STX Canada Marine will be supported inthe Polar Icebreaker Design project by ateam of highly experienced partnersincluding Aker Arctic Technology (AARC),SNC-Lavalin, INDAL Technologies andNoise Control Engineering. Aker Arcticwill provide their world leadingicebreaker design and constructionexpertise to the project. Aker Arctic'smain roles will be assessment of the iceloads, development of the hull form andstructure, propulsion conceptual designand descriptions on winterizationprinciples.

Experienced partners

6

Arctic Passion News

The maritime traffic in the Baltic Sea wasseriously affected by difficult ice conditions duringthe winters of 2010 and 2011. News on nearly 200vessels trapped in ice for weeks spread aroundthe world and the question was raised again, whatice capabilities should ships have when sailing inthe Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland?

Improvingice-class tankers

Vessels waiting foricebreaker assistance in theGulf of Finland in winter2011.

In the end of 1990's, Russia made thestrategic decision to build the Primorskterminal and to start shipping oil boundfor destinations in Europe from the newport located in the eastern part of Gulf ofFinland. At about the same time, oilproduction in Sakhalin started where iceconditions are similar to the Baltic Sea,especially close to De-Kastri. There werenot enough ice strengthened tankersavailable for oil shipments in these areasat that time so charter rates climbed intothe skies and a boom to design and buildAframax-size tankers begun.Aker Arctic Technology Inc developed theDouble-Acting Ships for Neste Oil, firstintended for arctic use but later thedecision was made to design the vessels

mainly for Baltic Sea conditions due tothe delay of oil production in theArctic.

and were designed tooperate independently with anicebreaking capability of more than 1.2meters of level ice with a power of 16MW. They entered service at the end of2002 and in the cold winters of 2003 and2004 both ships worked independently inthe Baltic Sea, mainly between Primorskand Porvoo oil terminals, while other icestrengthened tankers were trapped in iceand unable to move without icebreakerassistance.

During this time, the Finnish and Swedishauthorities decided to ease ice

classification regulations by allowing forassignment of an ice class notationbased on model test results. There was afear that the rule formulas, which requireda power of about 22-25 MW, would be toocostly to fulfil and therefore there was arisk that low ice class ships would enterthe Baltic Sea at winter time and theenvironmental damage risk wouldincrease in case of an accident. TypicallyAframax tankers have a power of about13-15 MW.As a consequence, reduced power levelsfor large ice class tankers were acceptedand an ice strengthened ship could havea chance to get ice classification bydemonstrating in model tests the icegoing capability at 5 knots speed in an icechannel specified by the regulations.Several tankers were then built with icestrengthened hulls but with bulbous bowsdesigned for open water.

Tempera Mastera

Change in regulations

February 2012

7

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

A

A

B

B

C

C

Bow version

The bow form improvement in modifying a bowshape of a standardbulbous bow tanker

Typical bow shapes of ice strengthened tankers

In this way a slightly modified standardopen water design can be used, andsavings on ship prices are achieved, butthe drawback is that the engine power/propeller design might not be optimal foreconomical fuel consumption in eitheropen water or ice,” Tom Mattsson, R&DManager Test Services at AARC, pointsout.During several winters there was notenough ice on the Baltic Sea to causeany problems, but the winters of 2010and 2011 showed again the value of icegoing capabilities. Dozens of tankers,cargo ships and passenger vessels weretrapped in ice and waited up to twoweeks for icebreaker assistance. Delayedschedules end up very expensive andcause problems with imbalance in stocks,congestions in terminals, not to mentionthe capital cost of the valuable cargo tiedup during the waiting times.

During the past five years, AkerArctic hasmade significant efforts in helpingimprove ships that were built in order toobtain ice classification with good iceperformance along with a low investmentcost.“During the boom, many low-cost tankerswere built. They obtained iceclassification but in reality they were introuble in ice,” Tom Mattsson says.“For example, if the bow is of open waterdesign, it will push the ice in front and theship looses speed, and a poor propulsionline design causes the ship to finally stop.By making relatively small changes in thebow design so that the ice moves easierto the side, this problem can be solved.We have done lots of systematic icemodel tests for vessels with a challengingdesign where we changed the bow andother parameters in order to improve icegoing capabilities, and good results havebeen achieved

Improving tankers

where the channel resistance has beendecreased by more than 30 %. Now wehave cooperation agreements fordeveloping arctic tankers with severalshipyards so that problems can beavoided in the future.”

The AARC designed Double-Acting ship MT Temperaoperates independentlyregardless of the ice situation.

Arctic Passion News

ABC

During the past five years, AkerArctic has made significantefforts in helping improve shipsthat were built in order to obtainice classification with good iceperformance along with a lowinvestment cost.

February 2012

8

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Speed, m/s

CP PropellerFix propeller

Mr. Tom Mattsson is amember of theResearch and Development teamat AARC.

Thedifference in the thrust curve of a fixed propeller and aCPpropeller is shown in the picture. Maximum generated power ofboth versions is 14MW.

Aker Arctic has conducted several monitoringstudies on Primorsktraffic which havealso shown the benefit of the CP propellers, theassistance time these vessels needed is about half of those withfixed propellers.The traffic ability study shows clearly the assistance time neededfor different types of propulsion. Notice that DAS vessels didnotneedany assistance. Winter 2004 Baltic Sea.

Average assisted time

IAIA

IC IBIB

IC

IC

IC

IAIADAT0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20 0.22 0.24

P/dwt [kW/ton]

ballastloadedDAT

FPP

CPPCPP &Icebow

IC

Arctic Passion News

“We are also in the process ofdeveloping a Combibow thatworks well in both ice and openwater. There is a requirementfrom the market to inventsolutions that are economical touse in both,” Mr. Mattssonreveals.

Propulsion solutions

New options

“The normally used propeller enginecombination, slow speed engine incombination with a direct shaft line and apropeller with fixed pitch blades, oftencreates problems in ice. This kind ofpropulsion is often optimized for theservice speed (14-15 knots), and atlower speeds it is not able to absorb fullpower. Close to bollard pull the powermight be as low as 30-40 % of full powerand that gives low available net thrustwhen it is needed,” Mr. Mattssonexplains.One solution to improve the thrust at lowspeeds is the Controllable PitchPropeller. With the CP propeller solutionthe engine is able to create full power atthe whole speed range while thepropeller blades constantly optimize theangles. It is a bit more expensive as aninvestment and to use in open water butgives a much better chance to managein ice conditions. The net thrust with CPpropellers can be up to 50% higher intypical ice going speeds than with apoorly designed fixed pitch propeller.AkerArctic has conducted severalmonitoring studies on Primorsk trafficwhich have also shown the benefit of theCP propellers, the assistance time thesevessels needed is about half of thosewith fixed propellers.The trafficability study shows theassistance time needed for differenttypes of propulsion. It is to be noted thatDAS vessels did not need anyassistance in winter 2004 at Baltic Sea.“The most efficient propulsion for icegoing ships is the azimuth thruster, as itis designed to move in astern mode inice and will have at least as good icegoing capabilities as conventionaltankers when going ahead, but then theinvestment and operation costs are oftenhigher,” Mr. Mattsson admits.

AkerArctic is always preparing for thefuture and developing better solutions.One of them is the AARC-developedVertical thruster; with this water flushingsystem the ice is moved to the side.Originally it was developed for floaters

clearly

and drillship use in drifting ice, but couldbe a solution for standard ice classtankers in order to increase ice goingcapability. It might even be possible toretrofit vertical thrusters on existing

February 2012

9

Arctic Passion NewsArctic Passion News

vessels. Model tests with a standardtanker have demonstrated an increase ofice going capabilities of more than 10 %and for IA Super class of more than 20%,meaning similar energy and fuel costsavings.“We are also in the process ofdeveloping a Combibow that works wellin both ice and open water. There is arequirement from the market to developsolutions that are economical to use inboth conditions,” Mr. Mattsson reveals.

Looking to the future, Mr. Mattssonbelieves the next generation of tankers,which will replace the existing ones in

the Baltic Sea, will be more self-going inice and more fuel economical to use.AARC's target is to develop a conceptthat works well in ice and is economicalin open water, without too highinvestment costs. STX Offshore &Shipbuilding of Korea has expressedinterest in offering such AARC-developed tankers to the market.“The operator always needs to balanceinvestment with risk. How much is itworth to invest in ice going features, asthe Baltic Sea is open for ten months ayear and the problem is during 2months? Is it worth taking the risk to betrapped in ice and delayed?”

“When the Arctic oil fields increaseproduction, there will be a need for moretankers for Arctic use. Now there are fiveships built for Pechora and Varandey andit will not be enough. The following boomwill come when drilling north of Alaskagets the green light. Ice there is up to 2-3metres thick and includes multi-year icefloes so the tankers for that area willindeed be more in the need for anicebreaking bow, 40-50 MW power andHybrid Aker Arctic DAS™-stern,” Mr.Mattsson adds.

Next generation

348

100 890

50100150200250300

350

[%]

Calculated

Original Hull

Water-blow

348

100 89

Relative power

The estimated total power at 5 knots speed in Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules 1A channel

The estimated relative total power at 5 knots speed in Finnish-Swedish ice-class Rules 1A Super channel

219

10079

0

50

100

150

200

250

[%]

219

10079

Relative power

CalculatedOriginal HullWater-blow

The total power reduction benefit with the help of thevertical thruster systeminunfrozen and consolidated channels is up to 20%. The channels aredefined by the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules.

AARC has made a wide rangeof tests for various shipyards.Open water ships wereimproved to manage icecircumstances in the Baltic Seawithout compromising openwater efficiency.

Maritime traffic was seriously affected byrecord tough ice conditions in the areaoutside St. Petersburg last winter.Dozens of inbound and outboundvessels waited for icebreakerassistance. Icebreakers from other areaswere called in to help; one of them wasthe Finnish-built nuclear powered IBVaygach, the icebreaking capability ofwhich was developed by AARC.

February 2012

10

Arctic Passion News

6 Arctic Passion Seminarth

Frederic Hannon (left) of Total SA andRobert Tustin of Lloyds Register Asia

Minister Alexander Stubb opened the day and emphasized Finland's commitment toactive but sustainable developments for theArctic.

Vyacheslav Peresypkin, General Director ofCNIIMF, St. Petersburg, was congratulatedforhis80thanniversary. Here with MikhailGrigorev of GECON and Ilmari Aro of FinnishTransport Agencey in thebackground.

Göran Wilkman (left) indiscussions with HenrikHannus ofAkerSolutions, Catherine Jahre-Nilsen of Statoil and LeoBarendregt of Spliethoff.In the background Olli Kaljalaof BureauVeritas,LasseMäkelin of ABB and Andrew BushofExxonMobil Development Co (to the right).

Following the successof previous PassionSeminars, Aker Arcticinvited offshore andshipping industry keycustomers and friendsto attend the sixthannual Arctic PassionSeminar in Helsinki inthe beginning of March.The event gatheredleaders from differentparts of the world for aday of networking andsharing experiences.

Finland's Minister of ForeignAffairsAlexander Stubb (today Minister forEuropean Affairs and Foreign Trade)opened the day recalling to theauditorium the Rovaniemi Process led tothe establishing of the Arctic Council,describing Finland's initiatives amongothers for a high-level Arctic Summit aswell as the recently adapted ArcticStrategy of Finland, which emphasizesFinland´s commitment to active butsustainable developments for the Arctic.Then followed the keynote speech abouttoday's Arctic offshore challenges inRussia, where Mr. Mikhail Grigoryevemphasized the long term perspectiveand some technology gaps in theutilisation of the arctic hydrocarbonresources in Russia.Mr. Dauren Madin, Chairman for CircleMaritime Invest in Almaty talked aboutthe Kashagan Project and North CaspianDevelopments and especially about therole of Caspian Offshore Construction,which very recently had taken deliveriesof the first “Mangystau” class Aker Arctic-developedARC 104 icebreakers fromSTX OSV Braila shipyard.The day was filled with interesting topicssuch as discussions on theMandatoryPolar Code, class rules for futureArctictankers, demonstrationmodel tests andexamples of voyages on the Northern SeaRoute. Read about the interesting voyageof SCF Baltica on the next page.

February 2012

Viktor Rokhlin of Sovcomflot (left) andGöranWilkman of AARC celebrated 30yearsanniversaryof their joint ice trials of IBsKapitanNikolayev and Kapitan Dranitsyn intheKara Sea in 1981.

The vessel chosen for the voyage wasSCF Baltica, an Ice Class 1A Super(Arc 5) shuttle tanker. Here escorted byRussian nuclear icebreaker Rossiya.

Source:SCF Unicom

11

Arctic Passion News

SCF Baltica, a first step inregular oil products trade to Asia

-

Mr. Sergey Frank, President and CEO forSovcomflot, is very enthusiastic about thenew Finnish-Russian cooperation whichincludes joint development of shipdesigns for Arctic energy projects.

SCF is a global leader in energy shippingand strategically positioned to provideseaborne services for Russia's growingoffshore activities in the Arctic. Thecompany wanted to make an experimenton the Northern Sea Route because ofpractical requirements of clients and thelogistical potential of the route.

Prior to directing the bow to the north arisk assessment was carried out andmajor risk factors identified: vessel'sconstruction, machinery and equipment;vessel's ice going ability with and withouticebreaker support; weather and iceforecasts and transit window selection;reliability of available hydrographicaldata; aids to navigation performance;available communication facilities andreliable communications in high latitudes;crew experience in arctic ice navigation;additional training requirements;

available search and rescue facilities andability to render emergency assistance.“The vessel chosen for the voyage wasthe 117.000 tdw “SCF Baltica”, an IceClass 1A Super (Arc-5) shuttle tankerwith engine power of 22.600 hp, servicespeed 14 knots and cargo parcel 70.000tons of gas condensate. We also chosethe best professionals for the crew and avery experienced Ice Managementteam,” Mr. Frank told.Normally all areas eastwards ofMurmansk are excluded from insurancebut “SCF Baltica” was granted coverageduring the NSR passage as she hasbeen designed and built for trading inheavy ice conditions.

“SCF Baltica” left Murmansk on the 14thAugust 2010. In Kara Sea she faced noice. Reaching the Yamal Strait there wastough ice and between Cape Zhelanyaand Vilkitsky strait she was accompaniedby icebreaker escort until Longa Strait.The estimated average speed betweenVilkitsky Strait and Longa Strait was 7.5knots but the achieved speed reached8.7 knots.

With the promising results from thevoyage, SCF adjusted their programmefor commercial voyages for 2011 and2012.”We are proud to have the best fleetavailable for harsh ice conditions. Ourthree Panamax-size tankers designed byAARC are used for shipping oil inVarandey without problems. The newoblique oil spill combat icebreaker hasgreat potential in areas where there isrisk for pollution e.g. Yamal. AARC is theleading organization in its business areaand we are very enthusiastic about thenew Finnish-Russian cooperation,” Mr.Frank concluded his presentation.

Risk factors identified

Voyage summary

One of the main topics duringthe 6th Arctic Passion Seminarwas the Northern Sea Route,its opportunities and itschallenges. Mr. Sergey Frank,President and CEO ofSovcomflot told about the tripone of their tankers made fromMurmansk to Cape Dezhnev inAugust 2010. This first“opening” has already led 41other ships to follow.

“The voyage went well and theexperience and statistical data collectedwill assist in optimisation of futurelogistical solutions for the Arctic. Thesailing time compared to the Suez Canalis 40% shorter and resulted in 800 mtfuel savings and reduction in COemissions by 3000 mt,” Mr. Frank said insumming up the benefits.

2

February 2012

During 2011 a new route North of theNew Siberian Islands was established,where the water is deep enough toaccommodate tankers with draughts ofover 12 metres, and for the first time inhistory, the route was navigated by theSovcomflot tanker Vladimir Tikhonov, aSuezmax ice class 1A vessel with adeadweight of over 160.000 tons.

12

Arctic Passion News

New tools for Ice monitoringAARC conducted ice monitoringin the Northeast Caspian Seaduring last winter. Partneringwith a local environmentalcompany in Kazakhstan, AARCinvestigated ice conditions in anew area as a preparation for aclient considering startingoperations in the area.

Underwater sonars were installed at two different sites in the Caspian Sea.Picture Pekka Kosloff.

At AARC ice data has been gathered formany years by doing ice expeditions andsampling ice on the spot. This is still verynecessary for new areas to be exploited,but relatively good and cost effectiveresults can also be achieved by remotelong-term measurements. Last year wasthe first time when monitoring with bothsatellite images and underwater sonarswere used simultaneously by AARC.

“We develop our services all the timeand this is something new we can offerour customers. Remote measurementover a long period is a good addition toour existing tool kit for customerswanting to have ice condition evaluationsbefore starting to plan operations, ” saysMr. Mikko Elo, Project Engineer atAARC.“Technically a similar method is to uselaser profiling from helicopters orairplanes, which we have done before forexample in the Barents Sea, PechoraSea and Kara Sea. It gives good data ofthe ice surface profile for a certain timebut does not tell us what is below thesurface.”Oil companies need to have anunderstanding of ice conditions forseveral reasons. One reason is to beable to plan the right equipment foroperations. Another reason is to ensuresafe operations in the fragile polar areas.

The third reason is governmentalrequirements, for instance Russiarequires measurements from severaldifferent years before any permits aregiven. AARC has been involved in thisprocess for example in the Shtokmanand the Barents Sea areas.“Last winter's ice monitoring gave a goodoverall picture on how the ice evolvedand moved during one winter. From aresearcher's point of view, the bestcombination would be to have sonarmeasurements over a longer period,laser profiling from a bigger area but ashorter period, satellite images for alonger period and short calibration icemeasurement on the spot for a fewconsecutive years,” Mr. Elorecommends.

The North Caspian Sea has one of thelargest offshore oil discoveries of thisdecade. With its shallow waters andharsh ice conditions, it is a challenging

and fragile area which needs to bemapped out before starting anyoperations. The ice monitoring projectAARC undertook in the Kazakhstanwaters was divided into two parts:satellite image analyses and underwaterice profiling with bottom-mountedupwards looking sonar moorings. AARCteamed up with the FinnishMeteorological Institute, one of the worldleaders in ocean and ice monitoring aswell as in satellite image interpretation.For the underwater ice profilingAARCdecided to cooperate with Canadiancompany ASL Environmental Sciences,which makes instruments for measuringice thickness and movement andprepares corresponding analysis reports.”The underwater sonars were installed attwo different sites in November 2010 andtaken up again in April 2011. The satellitesupervision lasted from December untilApril. The data gathered from the sonarswas then combined with data from

New services

Combining two methods

February 2012

Typical sea ice draft and velocity time series in the Beaufort Sea in an area of about200 m water depth. Ice draft and velocity are recorded with moored upward lookingsonar and ADCP. Data from National Snow and Ice Data Center.

13

Arctic Passion News

The Finnish Meteorological Institute is aleading expert in meteorology, air quality,climate change, earth observation,marine and arctic research areas. Themain objective is to provide the Finnishnation with the best possible informationabout the atmosphere above and aroundFinland, but FMI also offers expertiseservices for commercial use.AARC has been cooperating with FMI onearlier projects, e.g. on Yamal Peninsula,where the customer needed to find outlocations for a potential harbour, and thiswas done by field measurements andsatellite data based study.In the Caspian ice monitoring project FMI

was responsible for the satellite data andalso participated in deployment andrecovery of bottom-mounted sonarmoorings in the Caspian Sea.”The cooperation with AARC was verygood for us as we could both widen ourknowledge area and explore a new placefor us, the Caspian Sea. We are happyto continue with new challenges withAARC,” says Ms. Riikka Hietala, Head ofMarine Technology Services, FMI.At the end of last year FMI inauguratedits own satellite image receiving stationin Sodankylä, North of Finland, whichfurther enhances FMI´s abilities in thisarea.

FMI and AARC partner in Arctic research

Mr. Mikko Elo works as aproject engineer at AARCand started his career in the

company ten years ago. He isresponsible for thecompany's ice database andalso participates in ice modeltesting and projects related toice management anddynamic positioning in ice aswell as theoreticalcalculations for shipbuilding.Mikko graduated from theHelsinki University ofTechnology and spent oneyear of his studies at theUniversity Centre in Svalbardspecializing in arctic marinetechnology.

satellite images in order to get a fullunderstanding of the ice situation, icethickness and ice movements during thewinter,” Mr. Elo explains.The Finnish Meteorological Institute wasresponsible for the satellite images.”For these we used three types ofsatellite images; all available MODISsatellite images (visible light instrument),SAR images (Synthetic Aperture Radar)and high-resolution visible FORMSAT-2satellite images. The first purpose was tohave a general overview of iceconditions over the entire area. Thesecond purpose was to study the extentof the ice coverage and iceconcentration, and the third purpose wasto monitor ice ridges, and especiallygrounded ridges. From the images areaswith ridges could be seen around areasof interest,” says Mr. Ari Seinä, Head ofIce Research, Finnish MeteorologicalInstitute.

Good results“The underwater sonars measured watercurrent, ice movement and ice thicknessprofiles. The data from both locations isvery similar, which means that the resultsare reliable and can be extended tocover a bigger area. Analysis of the datagathered by the sonars gives a goodpicture of the ice thickness and icemovement. We were able to identify thesize of the ice ridges. From the satelliteimages we get an overview on how thewinter proceeded in the area,” Mr. Elotells about the results.

”By combining these two methods, thepicture of one winter is good. In order toreach a better understanding of theyearly variation, the same should bedone for a few consecutive years. Foreven better results, I believe anexpedition to the area should be done tomeasure and sample the ice. Then alsodata from mechanical properties of iceand structure of the ice ridges would beavailable. It would give us a referencevalue to compare with satellite and sonarmeasurements.”

Riikka Hietala and Ari Seinä are workingwith arctic research at The FinnishMeteorological Institute.

February 2012

Satellite image ofthe Caspian Seafrom the MODISinstrument.PictureNASA/GSFC,Rapid Response.

14

Arctic Passion News

Expanding into ice propulsionFebruary 2012

Kari Laukia was part of theproject team that developedTaymyr nuclear icebreaker fora Russian customer in 1980s.

From August Mr. Kari Laukia hasbeen the new Design Manager atAker Arctic Technology Inc. He isresponsible for engineering andconsulting and continues thework of Mr. Karl Hamberg, whostays with AARC as part-timeSenior Advisor, Ship Design andIPR. Mr. Laukia has a strongbackground in design and projectmanagement and thirty years ofexperience in the shipbuildingindustry, especially Arctic vessels.This gives AARC new opportu-nities in the ice propulsionbusiness area.

Nuclear icebreakers”I started my career as a propulsiondesign engineer at the Helsinki Shipyardin the beginning of the 1980's. Igraduated from Lappeenranta Universityof Technology in 1984. At that time, therewere many ship prototypes on order,which was really exciting for a youngengineer. I started with propulsiondimensioning and vibration calculationsespecially for ice going ships. I was

involved in developing, for example, aseries of river icebreakers and becamegradually the chief designer for this area.One important project going on at thattime was developing the Taymyr nuclearicebreaker for a Russian customer,” Mr.Laukia recalls.

Wärtsilä Marine was founded in 1987and Wärtsilä Arctic Sea Transportation

Azipod creation®

with an ice model testing facility (calledWARC) was one of the business unitsresponsible for developing Arcticsolutions. Kari Laukia became the chiefdesigner responsible for developingpropulsion units for arctic ships. Masa-Yards continued the business afterWärtsilä stepped out from shipbuildingand Mr. Laukia started to develop theazimuthing propeller unit today known asthe Azipod®.

15

Arctic Passion News

Mr. Laukia led the development work for theazimuthing propulsion unit today known asthe Azipod®.“Uikku was a huge leap in this technologyanddevelopment of Azipod business. Wecould not just scale thedesign up becausethe jump from first prototype 1,5 MW unit to11,4 MW heavy ice class unit was huge. Byusing the best technology available in themarket we were able to achieve all our goalsin theproject,” Mr. Laukia says. After 20years vessels such as Varzuga are stilltrading successfully in the northern waters.

“I was responsible for the technicaldevelopment. We saw the potential ofthe product and started to develop it forcommercial use. A large TEKES andEureka-project with partners fromdifferent parts of Europe was created inorder to secure enough resources andthe best available technology at thattime.”As a result of the success with theprototype the first contract was realisedwith Nemarc Shipping Company and thetanker Uikku became a piloting projectwith an 11,4 MW propulsion unit withhigh ice class. Kari Laukia wasresponsible for the project. Results fromthe piloting project were excellent so anew business unit called Kvaerner-MasaAzipod was created and Mr. Laukiabecame the Design Manager of the unitin charge of design and delivery projects.”We started to sell Azipods together withABB and the breakthrough came whenCarnival Cruise made an order for cruisevessel “Elation”. More and more orderscame as cruise vessels and ice goingvessels started to use theAzipod® andin 1997 ABB took charge of the product. Icontinued my work as Manager ofDesign and Projects at ABB Azipod Oy.”After working more than ten years inAzipod development, in 2001 Kari Laukiatook on new challenges and went toMcGregor's division in France to lead thecontract management department untilKone four years later bought the division.He worked for and founded Kone Marineelevators division in Hyvinkää. Mr.Laukia became the New EquipmentBusiness Director in Marine Division untilhe now returned to Aker ArcticTechnology Inc.

”I have a history of successful productdevelopment projects which haveresulted in new commercial products. Inaddition to good teamwork one of thekeys to success is listening to ourcustomers. By doing this we canconcentrate on the main things and evenfind new business opportunities weshould start to develop. In addition to ournormal business we should always thinkabout new business possibilities,” Mr.Laukia tells about his plans at AARC.One of the main issues is to ensure thatnew product concepts, which AARCdevelops for new areas such as Yamaland Baffinland, are reliable andworkable. Especially in propulsion wehave to extend our present portfolio dueto high ice classes and powers. I hopethat my experience in this field will helpto develop the concepts.“

Expanding business at AARC

The U.S. polar icebreaker Healy.Mr. Laukia and his team used theexperience of Taymyr design andoperation when designing thepropulsion system for this shipwhich was built at Avondaleshipyard in the U.S.

February 2012

AkerArctic has recently beenassistingvarious propulsion system providers likeRolls-Royce, Steerprop,ABB, WärtsiläandThrustmaster in their development ofhigh iceclassthrusterunits. Recentlyanother co-operation agreement wassignedwithTevo Oy inTurenki, Finland,which lies some 100 km north of Helsinki.TEVO delivers NiAl bronze-cast customand fixed pitch propellers. Propellers aretailor designed based on basic data fromthe client to reach optimal performanceon functional parameters and complywith permitted noise and vibrationvalues. Casting, machining and grindingare carried out at Tevo's Turenki works inFinland. The max weight of thepropellers delivered so far is 33 tons andmax diameter up to 7 meters, but aftercommissioning of the newly acquiredheavy-duty carousel lathe Tevo will beable to fabricate propellers up to 10meters in diameter and 60 tons in

finished propeller weight.The newcarousel lathe is one of the biggest inScandinavia. The facility extension hasbeen incorporated into the propeller unitcomplex. In order to increase liftingcapacity, a 100-ton bridge crane with alifting height of 13,6 meters has beenmounted in the extension part. AARC willassist Tevo especially in the higher iceclass propeller designs anddevelopments.

Openings in new areas

The projects are economically so hugethat there is simply no room formistakes.”Another important task for Mr. Laukia isto ensure that the older generation ofexperts at AARC transfer the knowledgethey have to the younger experts beforeretiring. This is part of the project ArcticHorizons that AARC initiated 2010. (seepage 16)

Kari Laukia believes we shouldchallenge the way we work every dayand search for new ways to do things inorder to work more efficiently.“The best part of this work is to seeresults so clearly. When things move onand our customers come back again withnew challenges we know that our teamdid a great job!”In his free time Mr. Laukia enjoys ballsports and family time. He playsbadminton in winter with his old friendsfrom the University and golf in summer

16

Arctic Passion News

One of AARC's key assets is itshuman capital and the know-how based on the staff́ slifetime experience in shipdesign, ship building and icetechnology. In order to preparethe new generation of experts,AARC initiated a project on howto transfer the accumulated“hidden” knowledge so that itstays available in the companywhen experienced keypersonnel retire.

Ms. Kirsi Rosenström is responsible at AARC forFinance and Administration and also for humanresources. Before joining AARC she worked withcapital markets in a stock broker company until shedecided to change career and went to studyeconomic administration at the same time that herfirst child was born. After her maternity leave sheworked with finances in several companies until shejoined AARC when the company was founded. Kirsihas built up the financial systems of AARC and nowthat everything is working she is concentrating moreand more on human resources, which she finds avery interesting new challenge. Workdays tend to bequite long, but Kirsi makes sure to schedule outdoorand sports time as well as time for her teenagers athome.

February 2012

A generation ofknowledge to transfer

The project, named Arctic Horizons,started almost two years ago withidentifying potential future leaders. Theemployees were tested to identifyindividual assets and potential as well astraining needs in order to reach theirpotential in the future. A consultant wascalled in to support the project and makesure that the schedule was kept.

As part of the process, it was agreed toform three project teams around realdevelopment projects that had been onthe agenda for a while. The project teamsconsisted of the younger generation ofAARC experts, while the older generationexperts acted as sponsors and mentors.Each project had a sponsor that set thegoals and supervised the progress andevery participant had the opportunity todiscuss matters with a mentor and at thesame time learn from the mentor. Everyproject group distributed the tasks amongthe participants so that everyone had ashare to take responsibility of. Thepurpose was to get familiarized withproject work as most of the work at AARCis formed around projects, and to learnhow to use the expertise available in thecompany. At regular intervals sponsorsand project groups met up for guidanceand to assess how the projectsadvanced.

The projects chosen were: Multi-modeltest program, ARCHULL™ brandeddesign project and Knowledge Base-filesmanagement project. The Multi-modeltest program meant that the group was tofind out how several vessels can be

tested simultaneously in the ice basinand how this can be done with remotecontrols, i.e. without cables.

The ARCHULL™ design project dealtwith performance guaranteed servicepackages for developing hull-propulsion

combinations for customers. TheKnowledge Base-project's target was tofind systematic documentationprocedures for new and old know-how.

In addition to these projects, four trainingsessions were arranged for the entirestaff. Every training session lasted oneand a half days and focused on a keystrategic issue. Mentorship training wasalso part of the training days' programme.One of the key values at AARC is to listento the customer and understand thecustomer's business. Therefore thecustomer based mindset was a topic thatwas emphasized throughout the training

Real projects to work with

and several key customers, likeExxonMobil, Sovcomflot, Transatlantic,Kone Marine and Elomatic were pleasedin attending and describing theirexpectations from AARC teams.

“The Arctic Horizons project wassuccessful and we all learnt a lot from it.The younger experts learnt how to workin a team and take responsibility for aproject and how to utilize the knowledgeassets of older experts. We learnt how touse mentorship as a tool for transferringknow-how within the company. Now wewill continue and enforce this way ofworking and at the same time supportefficient leadership roles,” says Ms. KirsiRosenström, Manager Finance &Administration and HR, responsible forthe Arctic Horizons project.

Senior Consultant Ann Wallén-Fogde,who helped AARC with the project, thinksthe simultaneous development of keyindividuals and the strategic developmentof the company worked well at AARC.“We were aiming for an individual impactas well as an organizational impact. Theidea of action learning in knowledgetransfer is to learn through challenges.During the process individuals grew forthe benefit of the company and throughthe real projects we were able to developsome of AARC´s core capabilities for thebenefit of both the company and itscustomers.”

“According to customer surveys, what ourcustomers value most in AARC is ourextensive know-how of our business butalso of our customers' businesses. It isimportant for our customers to know thatwe will keep up this know-how in thefuture. Every project is unique and thereis no ready-made solution. Our challengeis to always find the best solution for ourcustomers, today and in the future,” Ms.Rosenström emphasizes.

Tools for the future

Teambuilding events are regularlyarranged to increase networking amongstaff.

17

Arctic Passion News

Trimaran gives high potentialfor cost-efficient icebreaking

February 2012

Aker Arctic has assisted RoyalWagenborg in the development oftheir next generation of ShallowDraft Ice Breaking Multi-PurposeSupport Vessels (IMSV) nowunderconstruction.Royal Wagenborg is currentlyconstructing a pair of new icebreaking multi-purpose supportvessels, and ,at their Group yard Royal NiesternSander in Delfzijl. These vesselsare based on a platform designintended for operation in harshweather and shallow ice-infestedwaters such as WagenborgKazakhstan B.V. encounters in theNorth-Caspian Sea. Aker Arctic

has assisted Royal Wagenborg inthe early phases of the deve-lopment of the platform designespecially for the stern-first ice-breaking hull form and propulsionsystem, which will consist of twoWärtsilä developed 1,75 MWIcePods. The two new vessels area further development based onthe and

,Sanaborg Serkeborg Arcticaborg Antarctica-

borg which have been operatingsuccessfully for more than 13years in the Kashagan project inthe Northern Caspian waters. Thenew vessels, able to break 60 cmof level ice, have a length of about70 meters, breadth of 14,0 metersand design draft of 2,5 meters.

Aker Arctic assistsRoyal Wagenborg withicebreaking support vessels

Multi model testing started

An LNG fuelled icebreakingoffshore patrol vessel will bebuilt for the Finnish BorderGuard.

In December 2011, the FinnishBorder Guard awarded to STXRauma shipyard a contract onconstruction of a next generationoffshore patrol vessel for deliveryin November 2013. The highlyadvanced vessel will be 96 meterslong and 17 meters wide and willbe capable of serving a largevariety of functions. The main dutyof the offshore patrol vessel is tooperate in open sea patrol. Inaddition to ensuring border safetyand serving defence purposes, thevessel will be used for preventionof environmental damage, searchand rescue, and different under-water assignments. The vessel iscapable of operating in Baltic Seaice conditions.

The Finnish Border Guard and theFinnish Environment Institute(SYKE) launched this projecttogether and had earlier commis-sioned Elomatic in partnership withAker Arctic for the feasibility verifi-cation and the concept designwork.The vessel complies with theclient's functional specifications ofexcellent seaworthiness, sufficientspeed (about 18 knots), efficientsurveillance and communicationcapacity, efficient self protectionand outfit for the special tasks,ability for oil spill collection also inwinter condit ions, capacity tocollect and carry 1200 m³ ofrecovered oil/chemicals, capabilityto operate in a chemical disaster,emergency towing capacity up to100 tons, provision of helicopterlanding facility and launching andlifting of auxiliary craft in demand-ing sea states.

Offshore patrol vessel for theFinnish Border Guard

One of the latest innovations in icebreaking is the useof a trimaran concept. AARC conducted recentlyscreening studies with Mobimar Ltd and FinnishEnvironment Institute for assessing the suitabilityof the concept for oil spill combating in icy waters.The results were encouraging. After havingfound the right location for the side hulls,a preliminary icebreaker concept wascreated and tested. The surprisingconclusion was that a trimaranwas able to operatein thick iceconditions,

The first multi-model tests at AARC have beenconducted successfully. In multi-model tests batterydriven models are used and measurements are maderemotely

the concept was able tocreate a rather clean channel

twice the width of a channel of atraditional icebreaker, but with the

same propulsion power! The penetrationastern through ridge fields did not either create any

problems for the concept. Therefore the way forwardhas already been made; next phase will be development

of two AARC designs, one for oil combat icebreaker, the otherfor special dry cargo movements in the Baltic Sea and Arctic

waters. Possibility for a seismic vessel will also be looked at.

The research icebreaker AuroraBorealis, developed under theEuropean Union's four-yearproject ERICON, ended up toocostly to construct and has nowbeen trimmed down by AkerArctic without compromising onany scientific goals.Global climate models demon-strate the sensitivity of the polarareas to changes in the ocean/climate system. In spite of thecritical role of the Arctic Ocean inclimate evolution, its long-termenvironmental history and tectonicstructure is poorly known, which isalso relevant for the field of hydro-carbon exploration.

The research icebreaker AuroraBorealis has been planned to be anovel research icebreaker with nonational or international competi-tor. The design of the AuroraBorealis integrates the concept ofthree different vessels, a researchvessel, a drilling vessel and an icebreaker into one vessel, makingher a new state-of-the-art polarresearch drilling vessel capable ofoperating year-round in all PolarRegions.

The European Research Ice-breaker Consortium (ERICON -AB) project, funded by theEuropean Commission, started in2004 with a technical feasibilitystudy and later Wartsila ShipDesign Germany started to workon the conceptual design of theship and develop a scientific and

ap-peared to be very costly, a costestimate of up to 800 M EUR was

Having received a positive re-sponse from ABB for the possibilityto use PC1 ice class pods in theconcept AARC created a "slim"version for the

scientific goals. The perfor-

early 2012 and the definitiondocumentation is now underwayfor the Consortium and EuropeanCommission. The byAkerArctic isoper-ated on the AkerArctic DAS™ principle, is based ontriple 15 MW pods and has adisplacement of only 42.000 tonsinstead of the old 65.000 tons.Similarly the installed power hasbeen reduced from 101 MW to58,5 MW.

Three vessels in one

Cost-efficientversion

technical layout of the researchvessel. The design, however,

presented, which led EuropeanCommission to drop the project.However, as a lot of good resultshad been achieved in other parts ofthe project, the ERICON-ABStakeholder Council in 2011 askedAker Arctic to study the possi-bilities for a more cost-efficientversion for the task.

vessel and endedup in a cost estimate under 500 MEUR, without compromising any ofthemance of the Aurora SLIM in 2.5 mof ice was verified bymodel tests in

Aurora Slim

The is currently underconstruction at Sefine yard inTurkey and is scheduled fordelivery in third quarter of 2012.

Arctic

Today Silverburn operates a fleetof 25 tugs and 17 barges and fourriver cruise vessels as accommo-dation units in the Caspian. Sincethe building of the andin 2009 and 2010 Silverburn hasbeen developing plans for a newclass of very shallow draft AHTSvessels working down to 2.5meters operating draft. Togetherwith Ijmuiden-based OSD-Holland

high-speed

Tarpan Tura design for a very robust andsimple to repair AHTS with IceClass 1A per formance wascreated. She can work in 70 cm ofice, has significant load carryingcapability on a shallow draft and 50

tonnes bollard pull. Main dimen-sions are Loa 49.6 m, beam 16.5m, seagoing draft 3.9 m, shallowdraft 2.5 m. Aker Arctic conductedthe ice model tests and providedinvaluable feedback and assis-tance in finalising the hull form forgood sea keeping ability throughclever design features, as well asin refinement of propeller, rudderand bow thrusterarrangements.The vessel is fitted with two 1.6MW Cummins dieselsand Berg ducted c.p. propellers.

18

Arctic Passion News February 2012

Silverburn's IBSV to start Caspianoperations this year

Arctic

Aurora SLIM for monitoring of the Arctic seas

The reserves in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region ofRussia play a vital role in thedevelopment of hydrocarbonresources in the world and willoffer coming generations work-ing fields for centuries.In order to develop business op-portunities, Russian and Finnishgovernments have establishedworking groups within the gov-ernmental commission for eco-nomic co-operation, one of themwith Yamalo-Nenets region. Thechairman from the Finnish side forthis working group is Mr. MikkoNiini,Managing DirectorofAARC.The co-operation partners metlast fall in Salekhard by River Obat the northern polar area todiscuss how to diversify localbusinesses and how Finnishcompanies could participate innew oil and gas projects.

A visit was also paid to the newarea museum, which displayedmammoths found during con-struction work at the new oil sites.A recently found well pre-servedbaby has receivedspecial attention, in the picturenext to the working group'ssecretary Martta Halonen (Min-istry of Economy and Employ-ment of Finland).

mammoth

Yamalo-Nenetsperspectives

Mangystau-5, the last vessel ofthe Caspian shallow draughticebreaking tug series, at the STXOSV SA Braila shipyard inRomania.

Aker ARC 104Caspian Tugseries delivered

The construction of Aurora SLIMas a joint European researchicebreaker for the Arctic wouldstrengthen European polarresearch and Europe wouldcontribute to meet the Arcticdrilling challenge within IODP andretain its top position in Arcticresearch.

The Aurora SLIM by Aker Arctic isoperated on the Aker Arctic DAS™principle.

We will participate inthe following events:16.-27. February

Ivalo, Finland26.-28. March

Moscow, Russia

17.-18. April

Helsinki, Finland24.-27. April

Helsinki, Finland30. April - 3. May

ConferenceHouston, USA

23.-25. May

St. John's, Canada17.-22. June

Rhodes, Greece25.-29. June

Moscow, Russia

17.-20. September

Banff, Canada3.-5. December

Houston, USA

Ice Day 2012 Conference

Russia Offshore 2012

Northern MaritimeChallenge

Arctic Shipping Forum 2012

OTC 2012, OffshoreTechnology

Arctic Oil & Gas NorthAmerica

ISOPE 2012

Neftegaz

Icetech 2012

Arctic TechnologyConference

19

Arctic Passion News February 2012

Aker Arctic, in co-operation withMarin of the Netherlands, hassuccessfully carried out uniquemeasurements of ice loadsacting on the propeller blades.

Ice loads have been generallydescribed in literature and havebeen investigated in model and fullscale in the past, but a cleardefinition and understanding of themost important physical phenom-na has still been lacking. Contraryto hydrodynamic loads it is clearfrom interviews with captains andexperience from ice going vesselsthat wrong use during operation

can easily overload and damagethe equipment.The two-year project set up withinthe Marin CRS-consortium isaiming to improve the technicaldesigns and provide operationalguidelines for propulsion systems,spe ci fi cal ly f or az i mu thi ngpropulsors, but also for propellersin general. The ProPolar projectstrategy is to develop newexperimental results from icemodel testing which can be used tova li d at e an d i mp rove t hedeveloped analytical methods, aswell as to provide new testingpossibilities.

Ice load measurementson propeller blades

Meet us here!

The measurement team after the successful results at AARClaboratory with the instrumented thruster unit in the centre. From leftto right: Joris Brouwer, Gerco Hagesteijn, René Bosman (Marin),Petter Öhman, Tom Mattsson (AARC), Harry Siebers (Marin) andReko Suojanen (AARC).

Arctic topics are a high levelinterest in many countries andespecially for authorities res-ponsible of environmentalissues. Mr Sergey Donskoy,Deputy Minister, Ministry ofNatural Resources of the Rus-sian Federation, paid a visit toAARC and wanted to discussthe possibilities of new techno-logical advances in the exploi-tation of the Arctic naturalresources.

In the picture from left Mr IgorPankov of Sovcomflot, Dr MikhailGrigoriev of GECON and DeputyM i ni s te r S e rge y D on skoy.Recently Prime Minister VladimirPutin appointed Sergei Donskoi asthe new Director-General of thestate corporation Rosgeologiya.Rosgeologi ya is planned tobecome a strong and competitiveplayer both on the Russian andinternationalmarkets.

It will focus on ex-ploring mineral re-sources, especially inpromising areas, in-cluding offshore re-gions.

Arctic on the environmental agenda

Briefing on climate changeLast spring the Finnish Meteo-rological Institute (FMI) invited theirpartners- among others AARC- andheads of staffs in various ministries ofFinland fora briefing on global climatechange. The Sammaltunturi station isconsidered to be the cleanest place inFinland (located on the 68th parallel)

and has been selected as one of theglobal observation points to measurethe carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.The graph over the last fifteen years(on top in the picture) clearlydemonstrates the current trend whichgovernments are trying to stop.

20

Arctic Passion News

AARC employees' recentteambuilding trip was a studytrip to the Finnish cities ofRauma and Uusikaupunki toget acquainted with otheractors in the shipbuildingindustry.

The bus left Helsinki early morning onthe last day of May and the first stop wasSteerprop Ltd., an AARC co-operationpartner manufacturing azimuthpropulsion systems for maritime andoffshore industries. The interesting tourof the factory showed their state-of-the-art facilities and latest products.Next on the programme was a visit toRauma Shipyard, which belongs to thesame STX group as AARC. Being part ofthe same group does not mean knowingeach others' work and therefore visitingis an important part of networking.The passenger ferry wasalmost ready and AARC employees wereshown the beautiful ship. A South-AfricanAntarctic research and supply vessel is

Spirit of France

also being built at the shipyard andseeing this was even more interesting asmodel testing and calculations weremade at AARC during the design stageof the ship. The ship will be a multi-purpose vessel, operating as a supplyand research vessel, icebreaker,expedition vessel and as a passengership. The ice-strengthened vessel will beready for delivery and ice trials in whichAARC will attend in spring 2012.After a bus ride to the city ofUusikaupunki, a visit to Uki WorkboatLtd. showed an unbelievable example ofentrepreneurship. Uki Workboatmanufactures highly advanced vesselsfor professional use with a small staff

and a lean organisation. For instancetheir oil and chemical response vessel

commissioned by SYKE, theFinnish Environment Institute, has woninternational recognition.

represents state-of-the-arttechnology in responding to marine oiland chemical spills. It is able to collect oilfrom the sea in open waters in higherwaves than any of Finland's existingresponse vessels and also in iceconditions with the aid of its stern-mounted SYKE brush skimmers.Last but not least the group enjoyed anice dinner together before returning toHelsinki.

Louhi

Louhi

Networkingin Finland

Aker Arctic has its own rowingteam, which participates in twobig rowing events every year;the Sulkava and the Kulosaarirowing events. The mostexperienced team memberhad his 23rd race at Sulkava.The yearly Sulkava rowing eventgathered AARC employees in July for the7th time. Participants came directly frommodel tests, from vacation trips, summercottages and leisure boats to spend a dayof sports and fun together beforereturning back to their vacation.The Sulkava rowing event is one of themajor summer events in Finland and isheld every July in the Lake Saimaadistrict. The popular event gathers todayclose to 7.000 participants. The boat is atraditional Finnish wooden boat style, 12meters long and 2 meters wide, which

people used as transportation to church inearlier days. The distance in the event isabout 60 km and each team has 15members.“This year AARC's rowing teamparticipated in a race, which started onSaturday morning. Expectations were abit mixed as the previous participationshave been in the evening races, when theweather has been somewhat cooler,” Mr.Göran Wilkman, Manager Research andTesting Services, AARC, tells about theevent. “The air temperature was around

+30°C and fortunately the sun was hidingmost of the time behind thin clouds, whichhelped. However the race was exhaustingand drinking enough liquids became moreessential than ever.”Mr. Wilkman is the most experiencedparticipant of the team, having challengedthe waters at Lake Saimaa 23 times! Hethinks the end result was rather goodconsidering the circumstances: 5hours27.5 minutes and 40th place out of 96.

Rowing Teamgatheredat Sulkava

February 2012

Oil and chemical response vessel Louhi wasbuilt by Uki Workboat Ltd, one of the hosts forAARC employees teambuilding and studyvisit. During the vessel trials AARC staffconducted field ice measurements.