Svitzer gets two new icebreaking tugs for Scandinavia operations

Svitzer Europe will soon take delivery of the first of two new specially designed icebreaking tugs to support its operations in Scandinavia.

The 30-metre, 60-tonne bollard pull Svitzer Embla (pictured) and Svitzer Edda were both designed by Robert Allan Ltd and built by Turkey’s Med Marine to tackle a range of conditions specific to the requirements in Scandinavia, where temperatures drop in the winter and create demands for icebreaking to keep ports open to seaborne trade. For instance, the design of the tugs will allow them to pass the locks of Sweden’s Trollhätte Canal to access Lake Vänern and the Gota River to provide icebreaking services.

Both vessels are built to Finnish-Swedish 1A ice class standards and are able to break ice up to one metre thick.

Svitzer Embla will arrive and start working in Sweden in the beginning of April 2021. In the beginning of May 2021, Svitzer Edda will be delivered and start mobilising towards Denmark, where it will serve a large variety of customers throughout Scandinavia.