Page 54: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2013)

The STX Turku Shipyard in Fin- land recently lost the order for a third Oasis class cruise ship and an option for a fourth to ?sister? shipyard STX France, when neither the owner, the Þ nancially troubled STX Group, nor the Finnish government wanted to inject a missing $64.3m to the capital of the shipyard. The yard is currently build- ing two 97,000gt cruise ships for TUI Cruises. In January the shipyard delivered the world?s Þ rst LNG-fuelled big size pas- senger-car ferry, the Viking Grace for Baltic ferry operator Viking Line. The advanced vessel, Þ tted with Wärt- silä?s dual-fuel engines, has two LNG tanks with a capacity of 200 cu.m. each for carrying liqueÞ ed natural gas placed on the open aft deck and is built to the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class 1A Super. Another vessel, a multipurpose dry car- go vessel Meri, for Gaiamare Ltd. was also delivered last year, is operating with stern Þ rst in ice, according to the double- acting DAS principle. STX Rauma Shipyard last year deliv-ered a Polar Supply and Research Vessel for South African Department of Envi- ronmental Affairs. The S.A. Agulhas II is a multipurpose vessel that operates as a supply, research and passenger ves- sel as well as an icebreaker. Another research vessel delivered last year was the deep-sea Þ sheries research vessel for Namibia?s Ministry of Fisheries and Ma- rine Resources, RV Mirabilis. The ship features facilities for meteorological re-search and has a DP system. In February the keel of another inter- esting vessel was laid, an offshore patrol vessel for the Finnish Border Guard. Fitted with dual-fuel engines, the ves-sel uses liqueÞ ed natural gas and alter- natively marine diesel oil as fuel. With delivery set for the fall this year, this ves- sel is 95.9 x 17.4m with a design draft of 5m. The deadweight is 660 tons and 1,800 tons at maximum draft. The ves- sel has an electric machinery for its two azimuthing drives and for the two tunnel thrusters forward. There is a third pro- peller at the centreline aft, with the shaft directly coupled to a reduction gear of one engine. The patrol vessel will fea- ture substantial oil combattant capacity. Arctech Helsinki Shipyard The Þ rst two new Arctic offshore supply vessels, Vitus Bering and Alek- sey Chirikov for Russia?s Sovcom ß ot (SCF Group) were recently delivered by Arctech Helsinki Shipyard. The vessels are designed for extreme environmental conditions of the Sakhalin area in Far- east Russia and will work at the Arkutun- Dagi oil and gas Þ eld serving a platform of Exxon Neftegas Limited, meaning it has a very high 1.7m iceabreaking capability. The diesel-electric vessels have a total power of 18MW, with the propulsion power at 13MW, feeding two electrical azimuthing Azipod thrusters. Vyborg Shipyard built most of the steel blocks of the vessels. The Arctech Helsinki Shipyard was established in December 2010 when United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) of Russia acquired half of the Helsinki shipyard from STX Finland. United Shipbuilding Corporation is the state-owned Russian shipbuilding corporation focusing on developing the Russian ci-vilian and military shipbuilding industry. In December 2012 the yard received, also together with Vyborg Shipyard, an order to build a 16MW icebreaker for the Russian Ministry of Transport. The vessel is to be delivered in 2015. The icebreaker is intended for year-round op- eration in the Baltic Sea and is during the summer season to work in Arctic Russia. The YearbookThe ArcticArctic OperationsFinnish Shipbuilding and by Henrik Segercrantz 54 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? JUNE 2013 Above: S.A. Agulhas II, a Polar Supply and Research Vessel for South Africa Left:The Þ rst of two Arctic offshore supply vessels for RussiaÕs SCF Group was recently delivered by Arctech Helsinki Shipyard MR #6 (50-57).indd 54MR #6 (50-57).indd 545/31/2013 11:40:04 AM5/31/2013 11:40:04 AM