World-leading expertise in arctic shipbuilding.
Rauma Marine Constructions represents world-leading expertise in Arctic shipbuilding. Arctic shipbuilding is a field in which Finland’s maritime industry expertise and competitiveness are incredibly significant. Eighty percent of the world’s icebreakers are designed in Finland, and 60 percent of them are built here. RMC designs, builds, and maintains ice-class vessels based on its long experience and professional expertise.
Three multi-purpose icebreakers were built at the Rauma shipyard between 1993 and 1998: Fennica, Nordica, and Botnica. The maintenance agreements between Fennica and Nordica are still valid with Arctia. The Aurora Botnia, completed at the Rauma shipyard in 2021, as well as the four multi-purpose corvettes currently under construction for the Finnish Navy, are all capable of operating in icy conditions.
Next-generation icebreakers
The majority of both Finland’s and Sweden’s icebreakers are coming to the end of their lifespans. Currently, there are too few icebreakers, they are too small, and their emissions are too large. This is why there is an ongoing project between the two countries to build next-generation icebreakers.
Even though an official decision has not yet been made, the Swedish Maritime Administration made tentative enquiries in December 2021 about RMC’s interest in participating in the project.
To manage the building of the breakers, the shipyard must have knowledge of arctic shipbuilding and the ability to implement new technical innovations. This knowledge and technological innovation can then be utilised in a way that both increases the ship’s ability to break the ice while cutting emissions to a fraction of what was emitted by the previous generation of icebreakers. Also, experience in public procurement plays a large role since knowledge of the process and the preparation it requires aids the cooperation between the ordering party and the builder.
Maintenance of multi-purpose icebreakers Fennica and Nordica
Rauma Marine Constructions has an agreement with Arctia Oy on the maintenance of the multi-purpose vessels Nordica and Fennica. The first round of maintenance work by RMC took place in early 2015.
Some 50 metalwork, surface treatment and electrical installation professionals from Rauma Marine Constructions’ network of partners worked on the icebreakers.
Both multi-purpose vessels have strong ties to Rauma. Fennica was launched from the Aker Finnyards shipyard in Rauma in 1993, along with its sister ship Nordica one year later.
Converting Icebreaker Otso
The extensive conversion work for Arctia icebreaker Otso was carried out at the RMC shipyard early in the summer of 2015. During the project, Otso was converted to a specialised vessel capable of more versatile tasks.
The ship was fitted with a roll stabilisation tank to enable open water navigation. The conversion also reinforced the ship’s structures in order to upgrade its ice class to match Arctic requirements. In addition to this, the hull was reinforced, and the vessel was fitted with new lifeboats and a helicopter deck, both of which meet international standards.
Originally designed for the Baltic Sea, the converted Otso can now operate anywhere in the world. The three-month-long conversion project employed dozens of people in Rauma.