Diesel-electric icebreaker of the North-Western Basin Branch Tor departed on 15 November 2014 from Big Saint-Petersburg seaport and entered Sabetta seaport basin on 7 December 2014 at midday.

The route of Tor icebreaker to Sabetta seaport ran along the coasts of Findland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway across the Baltic, North, Norwegian, Barents and Kara Seas with calling at Murmansk seaport to restore provisions and process necessary documents.

On the route, after the request of CJSC “Belomortrans”, the icebreaker took part in a rescue operation. During two days, from 6:35 a.m. of 29 November 2014 till 6:00 a.m. of 1 December 2014, the icebreaker rescued from an ice captivity two dry cargo ships of river-sea type – Nadezhda and Brin Navolok.

It is planned to use Tor icebreaker, a ship with comparatively small dimensions and draught of 6.5 metres, for icebreaking at moorage walls and icebreaking services for vessels entering the Sabetta seaport during winter navigation of 2014-2015. The icebreaker will be working in the seaport waters for 240 days, at the minimum.

For information:
Diesel-electric icebreaker Tor, project 374, was built in 1964 at Wärtsilä’s shipyard in Finland by order of Sweden. The vessel was named after Tor, one of the supreme Gods in Norse mythology, God of thunder and storms, who protected gods and people from giants and monsters.

In 2008 FSUE “Rosmorport” bought Tor and Yuriy Lisyansky icebreakers used by the enterprise under bareboat charter agreement. This allowed the enterprise to increase efficiency of ice pilotage to big seaports of the Baltic region.

General technical characteristics of the vessel are the following:
Class: KM  LL6;
Maximum length: 84.5 m;
Maximum beam: 21.2 m;
Hull height: 9.5 m;
Tonnage: 5302.4 tons;
Deadweight: 1024 tons;
Loaded draught: 6.53 m;
Speed on open water: 18.3 knots;
Speed on ice: 4.5 knots with 50 cm of ice;
Maximum ice thickness: up to 1 м;
Bollard pull: max 80 tons, 45 tons at brakes;
Main power unit: 10.1 MW;
Crew: 33 persons.