MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Finland’s Helsinki Shipyard Oy will construct a new Icebreaker8 class icebreaker for Norilsk Nickel, the Russian company said on Wednesday. Norilsk Nickel is expected to receive it by the winter season of 2025.

The new ship will be fitted with a dual-fuel power plant operating on liquefied natural gas and low-sulfur diesel fuel, making possible to improve its energy efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the company said. She will become the first LNG-powered icebreaker engaged in vessel escorting on the Northern Sea Route.

The new icebreaker will conform to the Icebreaker8 class under the classification of the Russian Maritime Shipping Register and will be able to move in snowy ice with the thickness up to 2 m by stern foremost or stern back. She will have a helipad fitted.

Helsinki Shipyard Oy plans to start building the icebreaker in 2022 and has already awarded contracts for core equipment supply, Norilsk Nickel said.

"It is important for the company that construction of the new icebreaker is to be completed by the end of 2024," Senior Vice President of Norilsk Nickel Sergey Dubovitsky said in a comment. "It will provide an opportunity to expand transport capacities required for the implementation of strategic investment plans of Norilsk Nickel and Norilsk renovation programs," he noted.

The icebreaker will operate in the Yenisei River basin, the Yenisei Bay, and the Kara Sea, to provide access for Norilsk Nickel corporate fleet and ships of partners to the seaport of Dudinka.

The new ship will complement the Arctic fleet of Norilsk Nickel comprising six Arc7 ice-class vessels.