Construction of the Aino icebreaker will begin next year and is scheduled for completion in 2029. The new vessel will safeguard Finland’s year-round maritime traffic in the Baltic Sea.
Helsinki Shipyard will be responsible for the overall shipyard delivery and assembly of Aino working closely with its affiliate Sata Shipbuilding in Pori. Sata Shipbuilding will be responsible for steel production and block fabrication.
“We are extremely proud to have been selected to build the Aino icebreaker. Aino is being designed for Finnish conditions and the needs of Finnish winter navigation, and it will be built in Finland together with the Finnish maritime industry network,” says Mika Heiskanen, CEO for Davie’s Shipyards in Finland.
Aino is a B+ class icebreaker capable of opening a 25-meter ice channel. It is 96 meters long and 24 meters wide. Equipped with 10.5 megawatts of propulsion power, Aino combines powerful icebreaking capability, excellent open-water performance and controlled life-cycle costs. Its performance is based on a modern hull design and a propulsion configuration consisting of straight shaft lines and a bow-mounted azimuthing thruster.
Finland’s Icebreaking Heritage Continues in Helsinki
Helsinki Shipyard has an exceptionally long history of designing and building icebreakers. Every icebreaker built in Finland in the past 25 years, as well as around half of the icebreakers currently in operation worldwide, were built in Helsinki. The shipyard also built Voima, which Aino will replace, which has been serving Finland with distinction since 1954.
“It is fitting that the successor to Voima will be built at the same shipyard where Finnish icebreaking history has been made for more than a century. The past few years have demonstrated that we remain the world’s leading builder of icebreakers,” said Kim Salmi, Managing Director, Helsinki Shipyard.
In Pori, Aino strengthens Sata Shipbuilding’s role as part of Finland’s Arctic shipbuilding value chain.
“The mission of Sata Shipbuilding is to make Finnish specialized shipbuilding faster, more flexible and more competitive. Aino is exactly the kind of nationally important project to which we want to bring our decades of experience in demanding heavy steel construction,” says Niko Suomela, Managing Director of Sata Shipbuilding.
Multi-Million-Euro Investments in Finland Strengthen Delivery Capability
Helsinki and Pori shipyards are part of Inocea, an international maritime industrial group with operations in Finland, Canada and the United States. Together, the Finnish facilities form an integrated shipbuilding platform covering the entire value chain, from design and steel fabrication to vessel assembly and delivery. The group has launched a €200 million investment program at its Helsinki and Pori shipyards over the remainder of the decade.
“Finland is a central part of our long-term Arctic shipbuilding strategy. In recent years, we have invested systematically in the expertise, production capability and capacity of our operations in Helsinki and Pori. Combining international capital and order books with strong Finnish know-how makes us an even more competitive player globally. We are committed to developing and growing our operations in Finland for the long term,” said James Davies, Co-founder Inocea Group.
Source: Helsinki Shipyard
