02/06/17 12:17

Russia invests in Arctic icebreakers

The first of two diesel-electric icebreakers designed for year-round duty at a

new oil loading installation in the Russian Arctic has been launched at Vyborg
Shipyard.

The 122 m Alexander Sannikov is due to enter service at the Arctic Gate
(Vorota Arktiki) crude oil export terminal in the Gulf of Ob by 2018.
Strengthened and engineered to ensure unfettered access by tankers to the
offshore loading tower in level ice thicknesses up to 2 m and air temperatures
as low as -50C, the new generation of support icebreakers offers exceptional
manoeuvrability in combination with a propulsive power concentration of
21,500 kW. Construction of Alexander Sannikov and second-of-class Andrei
Vilkitskiy was ordered by oil and gas corporation Gazprom Neft from the
Vyborg yard, located 130 km northwest of St Petersburg. The main purpose of
the vessels is to escort and provide mooring and loading assistance to tankers
drawing cargoes of crude oil and condensate derived from the vast
Novoportovskoye field on the Yamal peninsula. The Arctic Gate terminal has a
throughput capacity of 8.5 million tonnes per year and received its first tanker
in May 2016. Incorporating the ARC 130A design developed by Aker Arctic
Technology of Finland, the icebreakers will also provide capabilities in ship
towage, search and rescue, firefighting, and oil spill response. The design is a
high Arctic-suited derivation of a Baltic escort icebreaker built at the Russian-
owned Arctech Helsinki Shipyard for the Finnish Transport Agency.
Propulsion through ice in any direction forward and astern is achieved by
three steerable propellers, two at the stern and one in the bow, complemented
by a special hull form. The diesel-electric power plant comprises four main
generators driven by Wartsila medium-speed engines, able to ensure
dependable operation while drawing in air at extremely low temperatures.
According to Aker Arctic, the new icebreakers will be comparable in
icebreaking performance to the 35 MW Russian nuclear icebreakers Taymyr
and Vaygach, while requiring about 40% less propulsion power. The
contractual requirement is for the capability to break level ice 2 m thick with 30
cm of snow cover, both ahead and astern, and to cope with consolidated
brash ice. Model tests at Aker Arctics ice laboratory near Helsinki indicated
that the new Alexander Sannikov type could overcome even harder ice
conditions, indicating broader scope for the class throughout the Russian
Arctic. Tanker traffic using the Arctic Gate oil outlet is expected to grow
quickly, and this will result in increasing amounts of brash ice, which builds up
on the sides of narrow navigation channels and at port and offshore
structures. The more often the ice is broken, the thicker the ice cover
becomes, as the blocks of ice mix with cold water and freeze again. The
process of brash ice consolidation, in conjunction with the relatively shallow
water depths in the Gulf of Ob, have placed particular challenges on the
design of the icebreakers. Low resistance in both ice and open water, plus the
operational flexibility conferred by the multiple diesel genset plant, will result in
improved fuel economy and reduced environmental footprint. Vyborg
Shipyard, part of United Shipbuilding Corporation, is also constructing a
10,000 kW icebreaker for Rosatom in support of Novateks Yamal LNG project
in the Russian Arctic, to serve gas carriers using Sabetta port. The vessel will
have two steerable thrusters in the bow as well as two in the stern, powered
by a diesel-electric system.