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wind piled up the ice to form large expanses of pack ice, which were especially treacherous in the narrowest sec- tion of the Gulf of Bothnia. Icebreakers operating in the area were able to help merchant vessels to force a way through the ice only one ship at a time. Easterly winds, which normally ease such conditions, were not in evi- dence for an astonishing nine weeks. Icebreaker innovation The first formal icebreaker, the Murtaja (in English, Breaker?), was commissioned as early as 1890 with steam engines by the Swedish dockyard Mekaniska Verkstad Ab. Soon after, in 1895, the senate of Finland set up a committee to address questions of winter navi- gation. In 1898, the second icebreaker, the Sampo , was commissioned and it was the first European vessel equipped with a bow propeller. Its steam engines gen- erated 3,000 hp and the dockyard was British Sir W.G. Armstrong, Withworth & Company. A number of additional vessels were taken into service in the 1920s and 30s. e rst diesel-electric icebreaker, the Sisu (in English, Gutts?), in 1939 was the rst totally Finnish-built icebreaker. It had a diesel-electric propul -sion system. is was the start of the icebreaker evolution in our country, an evolution that was made up of a series of innovations. Due to geographical facts and industrial develop- ment, icebreaking became a commodity for our country. Icebreakers were, and still are, needed to assist com- mercial vessels to and from the 23 Finnish winter ports to keep the country going. is need began to create an industry in Finland. Icebreaker design, building, and operational know how have developed strongly during the past 100 years. Today, the global icebreaker eet con- sists of approximately 100 vessels, of which approximately 60 have been designed and built in Finland. e Baltic Sea has been a laboratory basin for this development. is icebreaking development and experience has been enhanced and developed for safe operations in arctic areas. In addition to previous arctic tasks, Arctias Fennica and Nordica worked in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas as prime ice management vessels during the sum- mer season in 2012. is required new technical solutions, which we will examine here. Utilizing current capacities Increasing oil spill preparedness can be achieved by building new vessels requiring an investment of tens of millions of euros per ship. But there are other, more eco- nomical options available. It is possible to combine oil spill preparedness with ice management and icebreak- ing roles in a way that is ecient from the points of view of both national economies and industry. www.sname.org/sname/mt January 2013 Urho (green deck, foreground), the strongest conventional icebreaker in Arctias ?eet with shaft power of 16.2 MW, assists the cargo ship Hesperia .Close to 90% of Finnish foreign trade (90 million tons annually) is transported via sea routes.