Arctech Helsinki Shipyard has been awarded a contract to build a multipurpose emergency and rescue vessel for Russian Ministry of Transport. The contract has been awarded together with Shipyard Yantar JSC. The value of the order is about EUR 76 million. The project will start immediately and the vessel will be delivered to the customer in December 2013. The hull of the vessel will be built by Shipyard Yantar, which is one of the shipyards belonging to United Shipbuilding Corporation, the Russian part owner of Arctech. The outfitting and finalizing of the vessel will be done by Arctech in Helsinki. “This order re-confirms Arctech Helsinki Shipyard’s world class position in the design and production of the most advanced and sophisticated ice-breaking and arctic tonnage. This order is very important for Arctech as it is a completely new design and it will give us a good workload during 2012 and 2013”, says Esko Mustamäki, Managing Director of Arctech Helsinki Shipyard. This new and unique multipurpose emergency and rescue icebreaker represents a completely new type of oil spill combat technology. The design of the vessel is based on ARC 100 concept, which has been developed by Aker Arctic Technology for Arctech Helsinki Shipyard. The vessel features a patented oblique design with asymmetric hull and three azimuthing propulsors, which allow the vessel to operate efficiently ahead, astern and obliquely (sideways). The vessel can proceed on a continuous mode in 1.0 m thick level ice both ahead and astern and in oblique mode she will be able to generate 50 m wide channel in 0.6 m level ice. The vessel will be used in icebreaking operations and sea towing of vessels and floating facilities and also features a very advanced oil recovery system suitable for operation even in heavy waves. The vessel measures 76,4 m in length and 20,5 m in breadth. The three main diesel generator sets have the total power of 9 MW. The total propulsion power is about 7 MW. “Oil combat in ice conditions is one of the major challenges for the international oil industry. After many years of development work the oblique icebreaker concept represents a new approach for a solution”, says Mikko Niini, Managing Director of Aker Arctic.