Seaspan Shipyards selects Steerprop bow thrusters for polar icebreaker

Image: Seaspan Shipyards

Rauma, Finland, based Steerprop is to supply two arctic tunnel thrusters for the polar icebreaker that Seaspan Shipyards is to build for the Canadian Coast Guard. Being built under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy, the 27,876 tonnes displacement multi-mission polar icebreaker will have a Polar Class 2 (PC2) ice rating and will be able to operate in more difficult ice conditions (including in multi-year ice) and for longer periods than any other Canadian icebreaker.

Steerprop will equip the polar icebreaker with two arctic tunnel thrusters specially designed to meet the most demanding ice conditions, even without the protection of tunnel grids. This will be Steerprop’s first delivery of this unique ice-strengthened tunnel thruster, which will take the performance and reliability of tunnel thrusters to the next level. The delivery scope also includes a bridge control system and an offline oil filtering system.

Steerprop has designed an optimal solution for the scope and operational profile of the icebreaker based on its decades-long experience of delivering ice-classed solutions. In addition to optimizing operational performance, the fully integrated propulsion solution is designed to increase reliability and safety, while reducing lifecycle costs and keeping maintenance requirements at a minimum.

”The polar icebreaker will be an incredibly complex ship, designed to operate in the Arctic’s ice-covered waters,” says Russell Davison, vice president of Coast Guard programs at Seaspan. “It will play a critical role in enabling the Canadian Coast Guard to transit and protect the Arctic coastline. A reliable and efficient propulsion system is therefore essential, and the Steerprop solution has been selected to deliver this.”

Steerprop delivered its first propulsion units for an icebreaker in 2008 and has been a recognized player in this demanding segment ever since, continuously accumulating operational experience from icebreakers in both the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Throughout the years, Steerprop has put great emphasis on developing the performance and reliability of its solutions specifically for the world’s most challenging areas, including the Polar Code regions.

“The arctic conditions require extreme reliability – reliability is always the most important thing. Our R&D has always taken this kind of ultimate dependability to be the foundation of everything we do. The propulsion system must be able to perform, day in and day out,” says Juho Rekola, Director, Sales and Project Management at Steerprop. “For demanding arctic conditions, the thrusters need to be built for the purpose taking into account severe ice conditions and the operational area. This, in combination with our vast experience of delivering propulsion systems to ice-classed vessels, has resulted in a truly optimized solution for this polar icebreaker.”