''Kontio'' is a
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
state-owned
icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
. Built by
Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...
Helsinki shipyard
Helsinki Shipyard Oy is a Finnish shipbuilding company based at Hietalahti shipyard in Helsinki, Finland. The company was established in 2019 to continue the shipbuilding activities of Arctech Helsinki Shipyard in Finland.
History
Helsinki S ...
in 1987 as a replacement for the aging ''Karhu''-class icebreakers, she and her sister ship
''Otso'' were the first Finnish post-war icebreaker to be built without bow propellers.
In addition to icebreaker duties, ''Kontio'' was fitted for
oil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...
response by the
European Maritime Safety Agency
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is a European Union agency charged with reducing the risk of maritime accidents, marine pollution from ships and the loss of human lives at sea by helping to enforce the pertinent EU legislation. It is ...
between 2010 and 2016.
Development and construction
In the early 1980s, the
Finnish National Board of Navigation began looking for a replacement for the aging ''Karhu''-class icebreakers
''Karhu'',
''Murtaja'' and
''Sampo'' which had been built in the late 1950s and were no longer wide enough to escort modern merchant ships.
[Karhu II - A new-generation icebreaker. Shipping World & Shipbuilder, October 1985.] Furthermore, the old icebreakers were expensive to operate and, despite their small size, required a relatively large crew of 53.
[Kaukiainen (1992), page 330.] The development of the new class of icebreakers, dubbed ''Karhu II'' in the preliminary papers, intensified when Wärtsilä opened
a new ice model test facility in 1983. The first new icebreaker, ''Otso'', was ordered from
Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...
Helsinki shipyard
Helsinki Shipyard Oy is a Finnish shipbuilding company based at Hietalahti shipyard in Helsinki, Finland. The company was established in 2019 to continue the shipbuilding activities of Arctech Helsinki Shipyard in Finland.
History
Helsinki S ...
on 19 March 1984 with a price of
FIM
FIM may refer to:
Organizations and companies
* Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation
* Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States
* Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media
* ...
235 million and commissioned in January 1986.
The second ship, identical to the first one, was ordered in December 1985 and delivered to the owners on 29 January 1987. Her name, ''Kontio'', is one of the many
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
s for
bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
in the
Finnish language
Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedish ...
. Afterwards, the three ''Karhu'' class icebreakers were decommissioned and sold.
In terms of performance, ''Kontio'' is identical to her sister ship ''Otso''. During extensive ice trials in the
Bothnian Bay
The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and w ...
in March 1986, ''Otso'' was put through a series of test to determine her icebreaking capability. In a race against the 1975-built ''
Urho'' in level ice, ''Otso'' beat the older but more powerful four-propelled icebreaker by a ship's length,
[Turunen (2011), pages 37–39.] showing that in terms of ice resistance the new icebreaker was superior to her predecessor.
In ice, she could easily maintain a speed of and small ice ridges along the way appeared to be of no consequence to the vessel. However, the strength of the new icebreaker was put to the ultimate test when she encountered a large pressure ridge reaching all the way to the seafloor some below the surface. After preparations, ''Otso'' was accelerated to a speed of and rammed into the ridge at full power. Since the new icebreaker had a smooth inclined
stem
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
and lacked the bow propellers of her predecessors, she rode up the ridge and began listing to the port side as the hull rose from the water. After coming to a stop, ''Otso'' slid back by herself without utilizing the engines, and the ridge was penetrated on the second charge.
The robustness of the ship and its propulsion system were further proven when the icebreaker was backed into a ridge at "to prove to the customer it doesn't break".
[Icebreakers!](_blank)
Popular Mechanics, February 1989.
Technical details
General characteristics
Although the ''Kontio'' is slightly shorter than her predecessors ''Urho'' and ''Sisu'', she is slightly wider and was, at the time of her delivery, the widest subarctic icebreaker in the world with a beam of .
However, with a maximum draft of and a minimum operating draft of only , ''Kontio'' is able to escort ships to shallower ports than her predecessors.
[Telakoiden vaikein vuosi menossa. Navigator 6/1986.] The displacement of the icebreaker is 9,130 tons.
In many ways, ''Otso'' and ''Kontio'' were a significant departure from the traditional Finnish icebreaker design. The extended
bridge wing
file:Bridge of the RV Sikuliaq.jpg, The interior of the bridge of the Research Vessel ''RV Sikuliaq, Sikuliaq'', docked in Ketchikan, Alaska
file:Wheelhouse of Leao Dos Mares.jpg, Wheelhouse on a tugboat, topped with a flying bridge
The bridg ...
s on top of the stylish superstructure feature full-depth all-round windows that provide almost 360 degree visibility from the main steering position, which has been moved to the starboard bridge wing from the centerline.
Furthermore, the traditional colours dating back to the
Imperial Russian
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...
era, yellow and black, were replaced with the colors of the
flag of Finland
The flag of Finland ( fi, Suomen lippu, sv, Finlands flagga), also called ' ("Blue Cross Flag"), dates from the beginning of the 20th century. On a white background, it features a blue Nordic cross, which represents Christianity.
The state ...
, blue and white. Due to the extensive use of advanced automation, which allowed everything ranging from starting and stopping the main engines to raising and lowering the flag to be done remotely from the bridge, ''Otso'' and ''Kontio'' had the smallest crew among Finnish state-owned icebreakers when she entered service in 1986.
Later her crew has been further reduced to 20.
''Kontio'' was also the first icebreaker in which the
lifeboat
Lifeboat may refer to:
Rescue vessels
* Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape
* Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues
* Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen
...
s, unusable in ice-infested waters, were replaced with inflatable life rafts that could be lowered on the ice.
However, lifeboats were fitted when the icebreaker was equipped for oil spill response.
While ''Kontio'' holds the highest
Finnish-Swedish ice class
Finnish-Swedish ice class is an ice class assigned to a vessel operating in first-year ice in the Baltic Sea and calling at Finnish or Swedish ports. Ships are divided into six ice classes based on requirements for hull structural design, engine ...
, 1A Super,
it has hardly any meaning for icebreakers which are of considerably stronger build than merchant ships operating in their care. Coated with low-friction
Inerta160 epoxy paint, the hull plating has thickness of over in the bow and the waterline is protected by an
explosion welded stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
compound plating that further reduces ice friction and resists abrasion.
Galvanic corrosion
Galvanic corrosion (also called bimetallic corrosion or dissimilar metal corrosion) is an electrochemical process in which one metal corrodes preferentially when it is in electrical contact with another, in the presence of an electrolyte. A sim ...
is prevented by active
cathodic protection
Cathodic protection (CP; ) is a technique used to control the corrosion of a metal surface by making it the cathode of an electrochemical cell. A simple method of protection connects the metal to be protected to a more easily corroded "sacrific ...
.
Power and propulsion
Like all modern Finnish icebreakers, ''Kontio'' has a
diesel-electric propulsion system. It utilizes the so-called power plant principle in which the main generators provide electricity for all shipboard consumers through a common
busbar
In electric power distribution, a busbar (also bus bar) is a metallic strip or bar, typically housed inside switchgear, panel boards, and busway enclosures for local high current power distribution. They are also used to connect high volt ...
. Her main generators, four
16-cylinder Wärtsilä Vasa 16V32 four-stroke medium-speed
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
s producing 5,460kW each and driving 7,540 kVA Kymi-
Strömberg alternator
An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.Go ...
s, are located on the upper deck beneath the helicopter platform.
[Cycloconverters for the new icebreaker from Kymmene-Strömberg. Navigator 1985.] In addition, she has two smaller Wärtsilä 4R22/26 generators with an output of 350kW for use in ports.
[Jäänmurtajalaivastoa uusitaan. Suomen Merenkulku 2/1985. Pages 6–8.] The uncommon location of the engine room was chosen to improve the seakeeping characteristics of the icebreaker by moving the
center of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weight function, weighted relative position (vector), position of the distributed mass sums to zero. Thi ...
higher to calm the ship's motions in heavy weather. In addition, the maintenance of the main engines is easier as the heavy engine components can be handled with the ship's main crane and the
heavy fuel oil
Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) is a category of fuel oils of a tar-like consistency. Also known as bunker fuel, or residual fuel oil, HFO is the result or remnant from the distillation and cracking process of petroleum. For this reason, HFO is contaminate ...
tanks could be placed amidships to reduce the probability of an oil spill in case of grounding.
, ''Kontio'' and her sister ship ''Otso'' are the only Finnish icebreakers running on heavy fuel oil which, being the cheapest fuel available, reduces operational costs of the icebreaker.
''Kontio'' and her sister ship ''Otso'' were the first icebreakers in the world to utilize
cycloconverter
A cycloconverter (CCV) or a cycloinverter converts a constant amplitude, constant frequency Alternating current, AC waveform to another AC waveform of a lower frequency by synthesizing the output waveform from segments of the AC supply without an ...
s and
alternating current
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...
(AC) propulsion motors. Although electrical propulsion had already been used in Finnish icebreakers for almost five decades due to its flexibility and good torque characteristics at low propeller speeds, the older vessels had
direct current
Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even ...
(DC) propulsion motors which were very heavy and bulky at such power levels. Although it would have been possible to use two smaller DC motors in tandem, recent advances in drive and control technology as well as excellent experiences from a prototype installation on board the Finnish research vessel
''Aranda'' were in favor of the new type of propulsion system. As a result, ''Otso'' and ''Kontio'' were fitted with two Kymi-Strömberg
synchronous
Synchronization is the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. For example, the conductor of an orchestra keeps the orchestra synchronized or ''in time''. Systems that operate with all parts in synchrony are said to be synchronou ...
AC motors rated at 7,500kW. The maximum power is available at propeller speeds ranging from 115 to 220rpm to both directions and at lower speeds the propulsion motors are capable of providing 130% of the rated torque to prevent the four-bladed stainless steel propellers from jamming in severe ice conditions.
The
bollard pull
Bollard pull is a conventional measure of the pulling (or towing) power of a watercraft. It is defined as the force (in tonnes force, or kilonewtons (kN)) exerted by a vessel under full power, on a shore-mounted bollard through a tow-line, commo ...
of ''Kontio'' is 160tons.
![Kontio towing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Kontio_towing.jpg)
Prior to the construction of the new vessels, all Finnish state-owned icebreakers built after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
had been fitted with two bow propellers to reduce the friction between ice and the hull of the vessel in difficult ice conditions. However, the quad-shaft propulsion system was expensive to build and maintain, and the forward propeller bossings considerably increased the resistance of the ship. Although Finnish icebreaker captains voiced their concerns about the maneuverability and icebreaking capability of a vessel without bow propellers especially in heavy ice ridges and at crawling speeds,
[Otso osoittautui kelpo murtajaksi. Suomen Merenkulku 4/1986. Pages 22–24] extensive model testing at Wärtsilä's new ice model test basin showed that the ice resistance could be reduced by replacing the bow propellers with a "clean" hull and adopting an air bubbling system to lubricate the hull.
The patented
Wärtsilä Air Bubbling System (WABS) onboard ''Otso'' and ''Kontio'' consists of three compressors with a combined output of 1,900kW that pump air through 46 nozzles located below the waterline on both sides of the vessel. At low speeds, the system can also be used for manoeuvering. In addition, she has large ballast tanks and high-capacity pumps that can be used for rapid heeling and trimming to release the icebreaker if she is immobilized by compressive pack ice.
Like her sister ship ''Otso'', ''Kontio'' has also been retrofitted with a
bow thruster
Manoeuvering thruster (bow thruster or stern thruster) is a transversal propulsion device built into, or mounted to, either the bow or stern, of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow thrusters make docking easier, since they allow th ...
to assist manoeuvering.
Oil recovery equipment
In response to the increasing oil transportation in the
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
, the
European Maritime Safety Agency
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is a European Union agency charged with reducing the risk of maritime accidents, marine pollution from ships and the loss of human lives at sea by helping to enforce the pertinent EU legislation. It is ...
(EMSA) chartered ''Kontio'' for the summer months and fitted her with oil recovery equipment at a cost of 2.2 million euro.
[Kontio kastaa tassunsa öljyyn](_blank)
Tekniikka & Talous, 24 September 2010. The contract, signed on 17 November 2009, was valid for three years starting from 24 July 2010 and had an option of another three years. In April 2013, the option was utilized and the contract was extended by three years.
[Kontiolle jatkosopimus öljyntorjuntaan ja uusi arktinen keräin](_blank)
Arctia Shipping, 19 April 2013. According to the contract, ''Kontio'' would remain in constant readiness in the icebreaker base at Katajanokka, Helsinki. During the winter months, she resumed her escort icebreaker duties in the Gulf of Bothnia but maintained a preparedness for oil spill response operation in ice-covered waters.
[Jäänmurtaja Kontiolle kolmivuotinen sopimus öljyntorjuntatehtävistä pohjoisella Itämerellä](_blank)
Suomen Merimies-Unioni SMU ry, 18 November 2009. [J/m Kontio valmiustilassa öljyntorjuntaan 24/7](_blank)
. Suomen Merimies-Unioni SMU ry, 15 September 2010.
During a conversion at
Turku Repair Yard
sv, Åbo Reparationsvarv Ab
, native_name_lang =
, romanized_name =
, former_name =
, type =
, traded_as =
, ISIN =
, industry = ship and boat repair and maintenance
, genre =
, fate =
, predecessor = Wärtsilä Marine
, succe ...
in
Naantali
Naantali (; sv, Nådendal) is a town in southwestern Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important tourist centre of the country. The municipality has a population of
(), and is located in the region of Southwest Finland, west ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, ''Kontio'' was modified for oil spill response duties. Her large heeling tanks and one fuel tank were converted to storage tanks for recovered oil with a combined capacity of 2,033 cubic meters. Furthermore, she was fitted with cranes to handle the recovery equipment and two new lifeboats that were not deemed necessary in the past when the ship was used only for icebreaking.
The oil recovery equipment onboard ''Kontio'' was manufactured by
Lamor. She had two rigid sweeping booms that can be deployed on both sides of the vessel to direct oil slick to stiff brush skimmers when the vessel is moving at low speeds. Due to her size, ''Kontio'' had the largest sweeping width among Finnish oil spill response vessels as well as the largest storage tank capacity. In addition, she had a remote controlled free-floating robot skimmer that could be deployed in an area enclosed by oil booms. On her aft deck, ''Kontio'' carried of heavy duty open water oil boom that could also be deployed in the presence of ice.
In 2013, ''Kontio'' was fitted with an additional Arctic skimmer capable of recovering oil in ice conditions.
Since 2010, ''Kontio'' regularly participated in the yearly national and international oil recovery exercises such as
Balex Delta.
[Balex Delta oil spill response exercise to begin today 28 August with a national exercise](_blank)
Finnish Environment Institute, 28 August 2012. Since she was in constant readiness, ''Kontio'' was always moored on the outside when the Finnish icebreakers are moored in tiers of two in the icebreaker base at Katajanokka during the summer months.
The contract with EMSA expired on 13 April 2016 and the oil recovery equipment was removed.
[Öljyntorjunnan valmiussopimus pohjoisella Itämerellä päättyy](_blank)
Arctia Shipping, 22 March 2016. During the six years that ''Kontio'' remained on standby for oil spill response operations, there were no major oil spills in the Baltic Sea.
Career
![Brise-glace Helsinki](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Brise-glace_Helsinki.jpg)
Before ''Otso'' entered service in 1986, the Finnish icebreaker captains were sceptical about the ability of an icebreaker without bow propellers to operate successfully in the shallow Finnish waters characterized by heavy ice ridges. However, after the early
teething problems and successful ice trials, the opinions changed and the performance of the "Bubbler of the Bothnian Bay" was generally deemed to be satisfactory.
Over the years, ''Otso'' and her sister ship ''Kontio'' have proved to be very cost-efficient and for that reason they are the first Finnish state-owned icebreakers to be deployed for icebreaking in the
Gulf of Bothnia
The Gulf of Bothnia (; fi, Pohjanlahti; sv, Bottniska viken) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the Sweden's east coast (West ...
every winter.
In addition to icebreaking duties and, later, oil spill response preparedness, ''Kontio'' has been used for various different tasks. In July 2011, she participated in the sea trials of ''Dir'', an escort tug built in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. In the tests, the much smaller tug was attached to the stern of the icebreaker to determine its bollard pull while the icebreaker towed it at different speeds.
[Jäänmurtaja Kontio saattohinaajan testiajossa](_blank)
. Suomen Merimies-Unioni SMU ry, 8 July 2011.
, ''Otso'' and ''Kontio'' are the last Finnish icebreakers designed solely for escorting merchant ships through ice-infested waters.
In the 1990s, the Finnish Maritime Administration commissioned three multipurpose icebreakers with a secondary role in
offshore construction projects during the summer months. However, due to the criticism of the multipurpose icebreakers and Arctic offshore drilling in general, the new icebreaker ''
Polaris
Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...
'' will again be a traditional one.
Ministeri ja varustamo eri linjoilla uudesta jäänmurtajasta
YLE, 2 April 2012.
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kontio
1986 ships
Icebreakers of Finland
Ships built in Helsinki