Finnish multipurpose icebreakers to take part in NATO exercise

Fennica en route to Mediterranean

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Finnish multipurpose icebreakers are being used in NATO exercises this summer. The vessels have been chartered to serve as support ships and for goods and personnel transport.
      Esko Mustamäki , managing director of Shipping Enterprise Finstaship, says that Finnish icebreakers have been used in similar missions before.
     
Currently the multipurpose icebreaker Fennica is en route to the Mediterranean as a support vessel for a NATO submarine exercise. The icebreaker was chartered by the British company James Fisher Defence Ltd.
      In October the Fennica  took part in a submarine exercise in the Irish Sea. The ship had been chartered by the British Ministry of Defence and the company JFS.
     
The Shipping Enterprise has not informed the Finnish Maritime Administration or the Ministry of Defence about the NATO connection.
      "There is no need, because we do not have a direct contractual relationship with NATO. We have simply chartered the ship to a private British company. The customers pay for the fuel and are allowed to use the vessel in any way they like.
     
The chain of sub-contractors can be long. Sometimes there are three or four companies between Finstaship and the end user. Mustamäki says that Finstaship does not ask what kinds of tasks an icebreaker is used for. He admits that at least in theory, a ship could be chartered for use in a war zone.
      "The details of the missions are not our business, but if an icebreaker were to be used in a war zone, we would know because the geographical location of the ship affects the costs and the decision to rent it out."
      A few years ago one Finnish icebreaker was sent to the African coast off Angola. The area was classified as a war zone for insurance purposes.
     
Finland’s icebreakers are currently owned by Shipping Enterprise Finstaship, which leases them out to the Finnish Maritime Administration (FMA). The FMA has exclusive rights to use them in the winter to keep Finnish shipping lanes open. At other times, Finstaship is free to charter them out to anyone.
      The Ministry for Foreign Affairs emphasises that the fact that a Finnish ship is being chartered on a commercial basis for use in a NATO exercise does not mean that Finland as a country is taking part in the exercises.
      The Fennica's NATO mission in the Mediterranean is linked with a submarine rescue exercise.
      On Thursday the ship begins its journey to Taranto, Italy, carrying with it a submarine ten metres long and weighing 21 tonnes. The NATO exercise begins on June 21st, and ends on the first of July.


Links:
  Shipping Enterprise Finstaship

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