<\/p>\n
Finland will replace one of its eight existing icebreakers with a new vessel to secure open routes in the Baltic Sea year round, the Finnish government said on Monday.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The announcement followed the signing of an “ICE Pact” last month, a deal between the United States, Canada and Finland to jointly advance their Arctic and polar icebreaker development in order to counter Russia and China in increasingly strategic polar regions.<\/p>\n Navigable maritime routes are crucial for Finland’s foreign trade, with statistics showing some 96% of its imports and exports being shipped via the Baltic Sea, the security of which is also a growing concern for NATO.<\/p>\n “The acquisition of ‘Aino’ is the first step towards a major renewal program for our icebreakers,” Finland’s minister of transport and communications Lulu Ranne said in a statement, referring to the new vessel.<\/p>\n The government said it would initiate a tender process for the new vessel and seek also financial support from the European Union for it, but did not provide a value for the acquisition immediately.<\/p>\n “Functional winter navigation is part of the overall security of all of Europe,” Ranne said.<\/p>\n Currently, Finland has a fleet of eight icebreakers in service, the newest vessel Polaris having been commissioned in 2016 and the oldest dating from 1954.<\/p>\n In 2022, Russia added two nuclear-powered icebreakers to its fleet of more than 40, as the Arctic takes on greater strategic significance due to climate change and a shrinking ice cap opening up new sea lanes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anne Kauranen
December 16, 2024
cebreakers Otso and Polaris docked in Katajanokka during summer. Helsinki, Finland. (c) Kemppainen Adobestock
Finland will replace one of its eight existing icebreakers with a new vessel to secure open routes in the Baltic Sea year round, the Finnish government said on Monday. The announcement followed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/53292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Anne Kauranen<\/span>
\n
\n December 16, 2024<\/span>
\n
\n <\/p>\n
\n cebreakers Otso and Polaris docked in Katajanokka during summer. Helsinki, Finland. (c) Kemppainen Adobestock
\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n