Zeus summoned to help break archipelago ice

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By Merituuli Saikkonen
     
      “Is everybody on board? Can we go?” asks captain Nils-Erik Westerholm of the multipurpose tugboat, the Zeus, speaking into his radio.
      On Friday evening, seaman Ulf Forsman and petty officer Lasse Laine release the ropes from the pier in Hanko.
      “We can go”, Laine answers.
     
The tugboat, owned by the Turku-based, family-owned Alfons Håkans shipping line, is the largest in the Bay of Bothnia. It is not very long - just 45 metres, but its two engines have an output of 7,400 horsepower. Now all of it can be put to good use in the Bay of Bothnia and the sea around the southwest archipelago.
      The Baltic Sea is now under thicker ice than the average in the past ten years. The seven icebreakers of Arctia Shipping are opening sea lanes night and day, but it isn’t enough.
      There is so much ice that many freighters have had to wait for days in some cases to get the help of an icebreaker. The state has commissioned the help of the privately-owned Zeus.
     
“Usually we move oil platforms around in the North Sea”, says first mate Diedrik Järnefelt, and contacts the Traffic Control Centre.
      “Zeus here. Good evening. We’re on our way toward Utö via Russarö.”
      “All clear. No traffic coming your way”, a male voice answers.
      The tugboat pushes forward with the help of a searchlight. The white field of ice, about 20 centimetres deep, gives way as if it were meringue. Behind them is a wake of black water 14 metres wide, which the small ice rafts that broke in front of the vessel plunge to fill up again.
      “Intact ice is the easiest to break”, says chief officer Ville Koskela.
     
When the wind is strong the rafts of ice push up against each other and congeal into a tight barrier - pack ice. It is almost as hard to navigate through ice slush, which can sometimes be up to five metres thick.
     
The scent of shower soap can be detected in the ship. First mate Järjefelt, engineer Tuomas Kaartinen, and the ship’s cook Jyrki Sjöroos are in the sauna. The ship has a sauna with a capacity for eight people.
      “It’s so noisy in there that you can’t hear the hiss of the water on the stove”, Sjöroos says.
      In addition to the sauna, there is a small weight-lifting room and a boxing bag in the corner. Earplugs are needed in both places.
      However, it is the captain of the ship who is responsible for the loudest noise. Westerholm plays Modern Warfare in his office at 8:00 in the evening. The sounds of the computer game drown out the noise of the engine.
      The crew watching television in the living room laugh.
     
In the middle of the night only the captain and the first mate are still awake. The rest of the crew are sleeping. Each member has his own cabin.
      The Zeus passes the island of Utö and rocks in open water under a starlit sky.
      “This is one of the worst places in the Baltic Sea. The sea bottom rises quickly and forms big waves”, Westerholm says.
      Somewhere nearby, at a depth of 90 metres, lies the wreck of the Estonia. Soon the vessel slows down. Zeus is pushing ahead at 80 per cent capacity, moving forward at a speed of only a few knots. The ice ahead of it is thick.
      Here the Zeus was supposed to help two ships, but they have managed to move forward on their own. Nobody seems to need help.
      The Zeus moves northward toward Isokari.
     
“It is pleasant to sail in the archipelago. There are turns all the time, and it is never boring”, the captain says as he smokes a morning cigarette.
      “Conditions will get worse, I suppose.”
      The state has rented the Zeus for a month.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.2.2010


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Severe ice situation costs Finland dear (5.2.2010)
  Finnish maritime pilots demand eastern shipping route should be kept open in winter (2.2.2010)

MERITUULI SAIKKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
merituuli.saikkonen@hs.fi