Arctic tanker design jointly developed by Deltamarin and Aker Arctic
Aframax tanker design for Arctic use (Illlustration: Aker Arctic Technology)
The ice-strengthened vessel aims to provide cost-efficient and reliable tanker operations both in open water and in ice for crude oil and oil product transport. The vessel is strengthened to ice class PC5 level, about equal to Russian Maritime Register of Shipping category ARC6, and is capable of continuously breaking ice that is thicker than 1m. It can operate on the Northern Sea Route during the extended summer months, and with assistance even longer. During the winter months the vessel can operate in other sub-Arctic sea areas such as the Baltic Sea or Sakhalin in the Russian Far East. Deltamarin’s director of Ship Design, Markku Miinala, and Aker Arctic’s project manager, Riku Kiili, said the specially designed hull strengthening aims to improve safety in operations in Arctic waters. The hull is equipped with an ice load monitoring system, which measures ice loads from the hull and provides online support to the officers ensuring safe operations.
