Wärtsilä's ship design and marine consultancy subsidiary, Schiffko, based in Hamburg, has been awarded a contract from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research of Bremerhaven, Germany, to design the revolutionary new European research icebreaker Aurora Borealis, which will have a deep-sea drilling capability. The contract, which was won in a public tender comprises the initial design concept, general arrangement planning, and full tender documentation. The ship shall facilitate research in ice and open water conditions in the fields of geology, geophysics, oceanography, biology, glaciology, bathymetry, meteorology, and atmosphere physics. The vessel will have the capability to navigate in up to 14.5 ft.