Severe ice situation costs Finland dear

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The current severe ice situation will cost Finland dearly, as large masses of ice have packed together in the Gulf of Finland.
      Many cargo vessels have been forced to wait for several hours for icebreakers to assist them, sometimes even for a whole day.
      Moreover, the Nordlandia, an Eckerö Line ferry carrying hundreds of passengers, also got stuck in the ice at the end of January, having to wait for help for several hours.
     
In its budget, the Finnish Transport Agency has allocated a total of EUR 34 million to icebreakers. This would cover 650 working days this winter.
      However, it is likely that the number of working days will amount to as many as 800.
      The daily rate for the use of one icebreaker including fuel will be EUR 10,000 to 20,000.
      The Finnish Transport Agency has signed a contract on seven icebreakers with Arctia Shipping, a state-owned company providing icebreaking services, which started operations on January 1st 2010. All seven icebreakers are currently in operation.
     
Arctia Shipping could have provided yet another vessel to relieve the ice jam, namely the multipurpose vessel Botnica.
      However, Botnica would have been available only later, as it is currently working in the Adriatic Sea. The Finnish Transport Agency would nevertheless have needed its services right away, if not sooner.
      ”Even the price would have been higher than that of the other icebreakers, as we would have had to pay its trip from the Mediterranean to Finland and back there”, says Ilmari Aro, the Director of the Winter Navigation Department at the Finnish Transport Agency.
     
The contract on the services of the seven icebreakers was signed by the Finnish Transport Agency and Arctia Shipping in June.
      The Botnica was not included in the contract, and it was assigned to the Adriatic Sea in late autumn.
      ”If Botnica had been included in the icebreaking contract, it would naturally be in action here now”, says Tero Vauraste, the Managing Director of Arctia Shipping.
     
In order to relieve the ice jam, two additional vessels have now been procured from elsewhere.
      The services of the multipurpose tugboat Zeus have been bought from the Turku-based company Alfons Håkans.
      The vessel is to break channels through ice in the Archipelago Sea and the Bothnian Sea.
      In addition, Finland will be assisted by the Swedish icebreaker Frej in Kvarken, the narrow region halfway up the Gulf of Bothnia.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish maritime pilots demand eastern shipping route should be kept open in winter (2.2.2010)

Links:
  Finnish Transport Agency
  Arctia Shipping Ltd

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