Finland’s Transport Infrastructure Agency has selected Helsinki Shipyard to build the first of a new generation of icebreakers, awarding the project to the yard as part of a plan to replace Voima, the world’s oldest active icebreaker, which entered service in 1954.
The authority reported in early 2025 that it had completed the design process for the new vessel, which had to be able to handle the harsh conditions in Finland and support winter navigation on the Baltic and along the Finnish coast. The agency reports that the design solutions take into account the changed and variable winter conditions and the assistance needs of merchant ships. The new breaker is also designed to move more smoothly in open water, which the agency believes will be more common in the coming decades due to climate change.
"The ship has undergone careful conceptualization, design and ice model tests, and it is great to now enter the construction phase. The difficult ice conditions are not going away, and icebreakers will be needed in the future as well," says Elisa Mikkolainen, Director of Water Traffic at the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency.
The new vessel to be named Aino is a B+ class icebreaker capable of opening a 25-meter ice channel. It is 96 meters long and 24 meters wide (315 feet by 79 feet). Equipped with 10.5 megawatts of propulsion power, Aino will combine powerful icebreaking capability, excellent open-water performance, and controlled life-cycle costs, according to Helsinki Shipyard. The vessel’s performance is based on a modern hull design and a propulsion configuration consisting of straight shaft lines and a bow-mounted azimuthing thruster.
The vessel is smaller than the heavy A class vessels but larger than the medium-sized B class. It will have enhanced size and performance over the standard B class icebreaker. Construction will begin in 2027, and it is scheduled for completion in September 2029. The project was awarded €42 million in support from the European Union, recognizing the vessel’s critical role in Baltic navigation, and making it the largest transport support ever awarded to Finland.
Helsinki Shipyard highlights an exceptionally long history of designing and building icebreakers. It says that every icebreaker built in Finland in the past 25 years, as well as around half of the icebreakers currently in operation worldwide, were built in Helsinki. That includes the Voima, which Aino will replace.
The yard was acquired in late 2023 by the British-owned marine industrial group Inocea Group and integrated into the operation alongside Canada’s Davie and the newly launched Davie Defense in the U.S. The executives at the yard highlight an investment of tens of millions of euros in operations.
The most significant upgrade was an intermediate gate installed in Helsinki Shipyard’s 280-meter dry dock, making it possible for the yard to take on more projects and further accelerate project delivery times. It is also recruiting additional staff and plans to continue its investments, including in Sata Shipbuilding, which is being used for steel cutting and blocks for the icebreaker projects.
The yard began work in 2025 on a joint project to build Canada’s Polar Max, which will be one of the heaviest icebreakers ever built. Steel cutting began in August 2025 at Sata Shipbuilding, and assembly commenced in May 2026 at Helsinki Shipyard. The hull is being built in Finland, and then the vessel will be moved to Davie Shipbuilding’s yard in Quebec for completion in 2030.
Steel cutting for the new U.S. Arctic Security Cutter icebreaker also began at Sata Shipbuilding in June. Helsinki Yard was selected along with Davie Defense in Texas to build a portion of the new U.S. icebreaker fleet for the Arctic. Two vessels will be built at the Helsinki yard, with the first due for delivery in 2028. Helsinki Yard will also work with Davie to develop the shipbuilding expertise in Texas for the additional vessels.
Source: The Maritime Executive
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