Pilots of the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch successfully finished the pilotage operation of the Arktika nuclear power icebreaker on December 14, 2019. The icebreaker has recently ended sea trials in the Gulf of Finland.

Earlier, on December 12, pilots of the branch also successfully piloted the icebreaker to the Gulf of Finland.

In order to perform pilotage of the icebreaker with the capacity of 60 MW, 173.3 meters in length, 34 meters in breadth and over 33.5 gross register tons pilots underwent simulator-based training. The simulator demonstrated the whole route of the icebreaker accompanied by tugboats. Special attention was paid to the safe movement of the icebreaker through the Seaway Canal under the bridge of the Western High-Speed Diameter. The clear headroom above the Seaway Canal is 52 meters and the height of icebreaker from the waterline to the top point is a little over 50 meters. The gap remained extremely small, no more than two meters.

The major purpose of the first stage of the trials is to check the icebreaker way by using stand-by diesel generators. During the trials, the propulsion system operation and the transmission of movement on the shafting line was planned to be controlled.