Criticism
The state-owned shipping company Arctia Shipping Oy and its predecessors have been heavily criticized over the years for the financial losses from the offshore business. Due to design compromises, the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers are unable to compete with purpose-built platform supply vessels — the open-water performance of the spoon-shaped bow is very poor due to slamming. As a result the ships have been left without contracts and have spent long periods of time in foreign ports even during the Finnish winter navigation season, forcing the Finnish Government to hire icebreakers from the commercial market to keep the ports open. However, according to an internal memorandum of the Finnish Maritime Administration the offshore business, while not profitable, has covered at least some of the expenses from icebreaking during the winter seasons in the late 1990s, resulting in lower overall operating costs for the multipurpose icebreakers than for traditional icebreakers.
Arctia Offshore also received criticism from environmental organizations such as Greenpeace after the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers were chartered for Shell Oil Company to support exploration drilling operations in the Arctic waters off Alaska where the consequences of an oil spill would be devastating. There have also been concerns about the legal liability in case of an oil spill after a report by the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy claimed that the Finnish State could be held liable and the compensations could include the entire property of Arctia Shipping, the state-owned shipping company that owns and operates the Finnish icebreaker fleet.
The Finnish multipurpose icebreakers have also been criticized for their lower icebreaking capability when compared to traditional icebreakers from the 1970s and 1980s despite the advantages of the azimuth thrusters. The Aquamaster thrusters also require considerably more maintenance and the ducted propellers suffer from clogging when the icebreaker is operating in brash ice channels.
Fennica and the other Finnish multipurpose icebreakers are sometimes jokingly referred to as "Moulinex ships" after the French brand of household appliances and kitchen equipment.
Read more about this topic: Finnish Icebreaker Fennica (1993)
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