Sister vessels Svitzer Embla and Svitzer Edda to strengthen Svitzer’s presence in the Nordics

Leading global towage operator Svitzer Europe has today announced that it has taken delivery of the first of two new specially designed icebreaking tugs from Med Marine to support its operations in Scandinavia.

After mobilising from the shipyard on the Black Sea, Svitzer Embla will arrive and start working in Sweden in the beginning of April 2021. Soon after, in the beginning of May 2021, the second tug – Svitzer Edda – will be delivered and start mobilising towards  Denmark, where she will serve a large variety of customers throughout Scandinavia. Both ice-class tugs will strengthen the level of service that Svitzer provides to customers in Scandinavia and further reinforce Svitzer’s presence in the region.

The 30m, 60 ton bollard pull ASD Tundra 3000 ICE tugs have been designed by Robert Allan to tackle a range of conditions specific to the requirements in Scandinavia, where temperatures drop in the winter and create demands for ice breaking to keep ports open to seaborne trade. For instance, the design of the tugs will allow them to pass the locks of Sweden’s Trollhätte Canal to access Lake Vänern and the Gota River to provide ice breaking services.

Both vessels are built to Finnish-Swedish 1A ice class standards, and are able to comfortably break ice up to 1m thick. This affords Svitzer with a huge amount of operational flexibility, significantly bolstering the icebreaking ability of the organisation’s Scandinavian fleet.

The names of both Svitzer Embla and Svitzer Edda have been drawn from Norse mythology. According to the mythology, Embla is the name of the first woman created by the gods, and Edda is an Old Norse work of literature written in Iceland during the early 13^th Century. These mythological references honour the region where the vessels will operate and resonate with many of Svitzer’s existing named vessels in Scandinavia.

Commenting on the delivery of the vessel, Lise Demant, Managing Director for Svitzer Europe, said: “We are proud to take delivery of both Svitzer Embla and, soon, Svitzer Edda as important additions to our Scandinavian fleet. As we have just emerged from a very cold winter in Scandinavia, the icebreaking capability of these tugs seems more relevant than ever, as they allow us to enhance our support to customers across the region. At Svitzer, our core focus is on service and safety excellence, and these new ice-class tugs will enable us to continue to provide the highest standard of service to our customers.”