LNG

The Finnish liquefied natural gas-powered icebreaker “Polaris”, the first of its kind in the world, has completed its first bunkering operation at the Tornio Manga import terminal in Finland.

There are two Finnish import terminals at Tornio and Pori. The “Polaris”, which runs on both low-sulfur marine diesel and LNG, requires around 700 cubic metres of LNG when re-fueling.

It can be bunkered either in port in a quayside truck-to-ship operation or at a terminal. The “Polaris” is in the government-owned ice-breaking fleet of Arctia and is one of eight vessels.

The “Polaris” area of operations is with two other ice-breakers assisting shipping traffic in the Bothnian Bay area of the northern Baltic Sea.

“The Nordic region’s largest LNG receiving terminal provided the cleanest fuel in a port surrounded by ice at least four months a year,” said Arctia of the latest fuel operation.

Finland’s Arctech Helsinki Shipyard built the “Polaris” and its first bunkering was carried out in June 2016 by the Skangas unit of Finnish natural gas company Gasum.
This was a truck-to-ship bunkering operation organized at Vuosaari harbour in Finland.

The LNG-powered “Polaris” is designed to continuously move through ice that is up to 1.6 metres thick.

The vessel can also break a 25-metre wide channel in 1.2 metre-thick ice at a speed of 6 knots, as well as to reach 9-11 knots of average assistance speed in the Baltic Sea.

Gasum is the leading Nordic supplier of LNG as well as having regasification and bunkering assets to cater for various markets from shipping to the industrial sectors in Finland, Sweden and Norway.

In addition to the two import terminals, Gasum owns a small-scale liquefaction plant in Risavika in Norway and two other regasification terminals at Ora in Norway and in Lysekil in Sweden.

Gasum, the state-owned natural gas company in Finland whose subsidiaries include Norwegian liquefied natural gas market participant Skangas, reported increased first-half revenues and profits amid further development of the market in the Nordic countries.

Gasum, the Finnish natural gas company, said it planned to expand its liquefied natural gas filling station network to Sweden and Norway during 2018.

Finnish power project company Wartsila, which also makes propulsion and gas equipment for ships, said it achieved mechanical completion of the Tornio Manga onshore LNG terminal, giving Finland its second import and regasification facility.