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January 2013 www.sname.org/sname/mt ( policy brieng )The successful ice coring expedition, ACEX 2004, proved that it was possible to stay in position for drilling (coring) for a long period during severe ice conditions with a high concentration of multiyear ice and ice drift of up to 1 knot. However, the positioning was possible only with ecient ice man- agement. In this case the drilling vessel, a converted combined icebreaker and anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) ship, Vidar Viking , was supported by two polar icebreakers, Oden and the Russian atomic icebreaker Sovetskiy Soyuz . e ice management was organized from the Oden and the whole operation was com- manded by a eet manager. ACEX 2004 resulted in many experiences of value for future multi-vessel operations and helped drive growing interest, not least from the big oil and drilling compa- nies. One important lesson learned was that experiences from similar rst-year ice activities in other areas were of limited value; new methods of predicting ice drift parameters in real time needed to be developed. e results from ACEX 2004 indicated that similar operations could be carried out with the right resources and organization. To gain more experience, represen- tatives from the oil industry decided to organize a new expedition in the Kanumas area northeast of Greenland. All the involved parties brought their own research and development expertise to the meetings between the ?customers? (the oil companies) and the operators (the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat and Swedish ship- owners company Transatlantic). During the discussions, it was obvious that many of the theories presented by the ?experts? were based on theoretical considerations with little or no background from real experience. However, the Kanumas project was successfully car- ried out and improved methods were developed to use mathematical models to supply ice management with real-time ice drift data. After the project was completed, Transatlantic, which was responsible for the management of the vessels involved, was asked to try to establish a sort of competence forum in this eld, in which experiences from full-scale operations could be exchanged between the parties in order to improve safety and eciency. Transatlantic Ice Council At that time, Transatlantic was the manager of all Swedish state icebreakers, including the polar ice- breaker Oden . e company also owned three combined icebreakers and AHTS vessels. e Transatlantic peo- ple decided to use their unique experience and access to experienced crews to establish a competence cen- ter, to which interested parties could be invited. After some internal discussions, it was decided that the name should be the Ice Council, described as an international, independent ice advisory board. At that time, I was not connected to Transatlantic, but I was asked to join these ideas and to chair the coun- cil. is was in 2008, and organized the rst meeting and recruited people with long-time experience from polar operations, from vessels, and from administrations. It was BY ANDERS BACKMAN Real-World Ice Experience The development of a competence forum on ice conditions Oden (left) assists Vidar Viking , which had been converted to a drillship, to a site for drilling during ACEX 2004.