Swedish port orders ice-breaking tugboat

Port of Luleå in Sweden has ordered an azimuth stern drive (ASD) ice-class tug as part of its ongoing fleet expansion for icebreaking and ship assistance. Damen Shipyards will supply this 33-m tug for delivery during Q1 2025 to join other tugs in the port’s fleet – Vilja, which has hybrid propulsion, Viscaria and Valkyria.

To be named Victoria, this tugboat will have pull traction of 72 tonnes, a beam of 12 m and propulsion complying with IMO Tier III emissions standards, achieved with a selective catalytic reduction unit to minimise NOx in the twin-engine exhaust.

“What is unique about all our tugboats is they are built for port icebreaking in our tough ice conditions,” said Port of Luleå operations manager, Markus Andersson.

Its engines will be ready to run on net-zero biodiesel and these will drive two Steerprop-manufactured controllable-pitch thrusters, which can rotate 360° independently of each other.

Port of Luleå has three icebreaking tugboats that assist ships in and out of the harbour, and are responsible for ice breaking at the ports of Luleå, Kalix and Piteå, all in the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia.

Victoria will enable the fleet owner to keep tugboats stationed in the winter in each of these ports and provide ship handling as it anticipates increasing marine traffic.

Damen has already built this ice-breaking ASD tugboat at one of its Asian shipyards and transferred it to Europe for commissioning and flagging with the Swedish authorities.