Wartsila power for Arctic icebreakers

The icebreakers are under construction at the PJSC Vyborg Shipyard in Russia and are being built for Gazprom Neft, based in St.Petersburg.

Johan Hanstén, area sales director at Wärtsilä, said: “Once again Wärtsilä has been chosen based on the company’s experience and strong track record in supplying highly efficient and reliable solutions for icebreakers.”

“These vessels operate in the toughest possible conditions and it is, therefore, important that the power generators selected are the best available.”

The ships will operate in arctic conditions with outside air temperatures as low as minus 50°C and ice thicknesses up to 2metres.

Challenging operational considerations, the reliability and overall efficiency of the Wärtsilä machinery were prime considerations in the award of this contract.

The ability of the Wärtsilä engines to operate efficiently with such low air suction temperatures will aim to provide the basis for an arctic package solution.

“Wärtsilä is well known and respected in the Russian shipping industry and we are very pleased to cooperate with them in this important project,” said Sviridov Maxim, director of Marine Electric Mechanical Dept, Ruselprom Group.

He continued: “We see enormous potential in this partnership with Wärtsilä, a company with great experience that provides proven, reliable, and technologically advanced products and systems.”

Ruselprom Group and Wärtsilä signed the contract in October. When completed in 2017, the two icebreakers will operate from Novy Port in the north of Russia.

Alexander Solovyev, general director of, PJSC Vyborg Shipyard, concluded: “We have worked with Wärtsilä on various projects for many years, and we are very confident that they can provide the engineering support and quality products needed for these icebreakers.”