Activity 05

Pilot study on removable-bow concept

Overview

The objective of this activity is to pilot the transformation of ice strengthened vessels and larger tugboats into icebreakers during winter time by installing an icebreaking removable-bow equipped with engines (additional power) and propellers. With reduced investment costs, this concept would give more flexibility for the use of the fleet and can be of great assistance in terms of extra resources during extremely hard winters when more icebreaking services are needed.

The removable-bow concept is an innovation developed under WINMOS (1) Action where it was briefly studied at concept level and tentative open water and ice model tests were performed. It showed very promising results but as this is totally new concept, it requires further investigation. Precisely, model test results need to be verified in real ice conditions and technical solutions and versatility need to be studied further to gain knowledge and understanding of pros and cons of the concept for sound future investment decisions.

Sub-Activity 5.1 – Concept design study

The scope of this sub-activity was to prepare the concept design study which included: the planning of the concepts for the model tests, the building of the models, ice model tests in a model basin and the comparison with the model tests.

The ice model tests have been performed.

Sub-Activity 5.2 – Piloting the self-propelled removable-bow concept

The scope of this sub-activity is to tender and procure the building of the pilot version of the full scale model. The winning supplier will build the pilot version of the model and perform the needed modifications to the pusher vessel.

The procurement of the building the remowable-bow and the modification to the pusher vessel has been completed. The shipyard building the full scale remowable-bow is Turku Repair Yard.

The procurement of technical supervisor team has been completed. JapaTiko Oy will take care of the technical supervision of the building process.

The removable-bow is starting to take its shape at the shipyard in Klaipeda.

Photo: Anneli Kokkonen / JapaTiko Oy

Photo: JapaTiko Oy

The steel block was transported from Klaipeda shipyard to Naantali, Finland in May 2019 where building works continued. Purchasing and installment of equipment was done in Naantali shipyard. Launching of the bow was 28 August 2019.

The pusher vessel modifications were done simultaneously with the building of the bow in Naantali.

Sub-Activity 5.3 – Full scale trials

The scope of this sub-activity was to tender and procure the full scale trials. Full scale trials will be performed by the winning enterprise that also delivers the required pusher capacity. Alfons Håkans had the winning bid and their tug Calypso has been selected as the pusher vessel for this pilot project.

Sub-Activity 5.4 – Tendering and procuring the operating of the removable-bow

The scope of this sub-activity was to tender and procure the operating of the removable-bow for icebreaking purposes after the full scale trials. This procurement was done with one procurement together with the full scale trias as the modifications needed for the vessel are such large scale that it would have been difficult to find service provider to perform only the full scale trials.

The procurement process of pusher vessel for the icebreaking removable-bow has been completed. Alfons Håkans’s Calypso has been selected as the pusher vessel for this pilot project.