Lankhorst towing ropes for Arctech icebreakers

Maritime ropes producer and supplier, Lankhorst Ropes, has supplied Arctech Helsinki Shipyard Inc with steel wire towing ropes for three new ice-breaking supply and emergency operations ships, which will operate in seas off Far East Russia and the Gulf of Finland.

The emergency and rescue vessel, NB 508 Baltika, is being built for the Russian Ministry of Transport. While the NB 506 Vitus Bering and NB 507 Aleksey Chirikov, high capability multifunctional ice-breaking supply vessels are for Russian shipping company Sovcomflot.

Lankhorst has supplied NB 506 Vitus Bering and NB 507 Aleksey Chirikov with 1,000m of 66mm diameter steel wire rope; the ropes have a minimum breaking load (MBL) of 310Mt. NB 508 Baltika will use 700m of 58mm diameter rope with 240Mt MBL. The steel wire ropes feature an independent wire rope core, providing greater strength and stability to the rope than a fibre core. As well as towing, the galvanised rope can also be used for multiple other offshore applications.

Two of the vessels, NB 506 Vitus Bering and NB 507 Aleksey Chirikov, will support Sakhalin-1 Arkutun-Dagi oil and gas field in the Sea of Okhotsk, Far East Russia. The ships’ main tasks will be to protect the oil and gas rigs from ice accumulation, provide supplies and transport crews, as well as, oil spill recovery, fire-fighting, ocean-towing, stand-by and rescue. The ships and their equipment will have to perform in temperatures of minus 35 °C, waves up to 18 metres in height and wind speeds exceeding 140 kilometres per hour.

Of NB 508 Baltika, Esko Mustamäki, managing director of Arctech Helsinki Shipyard, said: “Baltika should be the benchmark when developing and building innovative Arctic vessels. Lankhorst Ropes share our desire for innovation and high standards making them the ideal rope supplier for Arctech.”

Once delivered, Baltika’s operations will include ice-breaking, rescue and oil spill recovery in the Gulf of Finland.

Other recent news from Arctech Helsinki Shipyard concerns a new icebreaker for the Finnish Transport Agency.