Basic ice handling methods in Finnish ports

摘要

The economic well being of Finland is depending essentially on the maritime traffic. Finland's location in the Northern Hemisphere, in the end of the Baltic Sea equals the situation of an island: the shortest and cheapest way to transport goods to the markets is usually the seaway. But due to the northern and subarctic location sea areas surrounding the coastline tend to freeze every year. Part of the ports are surrounded by ice six months of the year. The prerequisite for effective transport and the economics is to keep the maritime traffic running year round, thus there must be certain solutions developed for the winter-time. One of the most common examples of these ice control methods is the use of ice breakers, which assist the merchant ships through the ice fields. The use of the government owned icebreakers is usually limited for the heavy ice conditions of the open sea areas only, and ports should have their own harbour tug boats with other options to survive throughout the winter. The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications ordered a study from VTT to evaluate the typical problems caused by ice, and the common ice handling methods in Finnish ports. The development of maritime traffic has turned to more and more quicker transport modes with timetables and frequent traffic. All delays should be minimised. Time is money. The work was carried out in supervision of the Finnish Port Association and both the seaports and inland ports were included in the study. This paper gives a review of the ice problems, summarising the typical methodologies to maintain the flow of traffic.