Baltika icebreaker

Baltika ("ледокол Балтика") is a Russian icebreaking vessel owned by the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport of Russia (abbrev Rosmorrechflot / Росморречфлот - "Федеральное агентство морского и речного транспорта") and operated by FGI Gosmorspassluzhba (the Russian Marine Emergency Rescue Service).

The vessel (IMO number 9649237) is Russia-flagged (MMSI 273320720) and registered in Sankt-Petersburg.

Baltika is the world's first marine vessel ever built with an asymmetric (oblique) hull. This design allows it to operate not only ahead/astern, but also sideways (with a large angle of attack) for opening a wide channel for bigger merchant ships. On December 8, 2011, Arctech Helsinki Shipyard signed a EUR 76 million contract with the Russian Ministry of Transport for the construction of an "icebreaking multipurpose emergency and rescue vessel" for Rosmorrechflot.

This icebreaker is designed to open a 160 ft / 50 m wide clean path in 2 ft / 0,6 m thick ice when going sideways. The hull of the world's first oblique icebreaker was to be produced by Shipyard Yantar JSC, in Kaliningrad. Steel production started on April 24, 2012, and the keel was laid on July 6, 2012. However, instead of launching the hull in Kaliningrad and towing it for outfitting to the shipbuilding yard, the blocks were transported to Helsinki for assembling the hull in Finland. This delayed the vessel's scheduled delivery into the 2014 spring.

On May 15, 2014, the Baltika ship left Helsinki under tow for Kaliningrad (Russian Baltic Sea port city), where remained moored until the end of the year. In December 2014, the icebreaker was towed to St Petersburg and delivered on December 30. The ceremonial Russian flag hoisting was held on February 20, 2015. On March 6, 2015, only a few weeks after entering service, the Baltika icebreaker departed from St Petersburg for Murmansk (Russian Barents Sea port city), from where she left for ice trials in the Arctic Ocean (Gulf of Ob / aka Ob Bay).

Rosmorrechflot's Baltika itinerary program offers icebreaking operations and rescue services for large-capacity tankers in the Arctic Ocean.

Baltika icebreaker vessel details

A true multipurpose ship, Baltika is a specifically designed icebreaker. It can be utilized for towing of vessels in an emergency, to conduct rescue operations, to extinguish external fires. In case of oil spills, the vertical side of her asymmetric hull can be used as a big sweeping arm to guide oil floating on the surface to built-in skimmer as the ship moves obliquely through the slick.

Baltika is classified by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping as "Icebreaker6" ship. This class requires the vessel to be capable of operating in level ice with 3,3 ft / 1 m thickness in continuous motion and to be strengthened for navigation in non-Arctic waters where ice is up to 5 ft / 1,5 m thick.

The vessel has 1 dining room, Sauna, 1 swimming pool (no Jacuzzis), no elevator, 1 helipad (helicopter deck).

• Max Draft: 6 m / 20 ft
• DWT Deadweight tonnage: 1150 tons

Note: In the case of poor AIS coverage, tracking the vessel's current location will be impossible. You can see CruiseMapper's list of all icebreakers and ice-breaking research ships in the "itinerary" section of our Icebreakers hub. All states and their fleets are listed there.