Close to 200 participants attended this year’s Arctic Shipping Forum (ASF) in Helsinki from April 17 to 19, where The Switch and Steerprop had a joint stand and presentation.
This year’s ASF explored new perspectives on the world’s most challenging arena for maritime commerce. Key themes included improving emergency response, developing technological capabilities and securing a sustainable future for Arctic shipping.
Ville Parpala and Sergei Groshev from The Switch joined Mika Koli and Hannu Jukola from Steerprop to present our integrated electric propulsor solution to the conference attendees.
“The event was a great place for networking,” says Ville. “There’s a rapidly growing interest in opening up the northern routes from Western Europe to the Far East. But the ships that travel these areas need to be capable of ice navigation. I think we’ll soon see more harbors catering to the needs of ice-going ships, as increasing traffic begins to use these demanding Arctic routes.”
Mika Koli and Hannu Jukola gave a joint presentation about the integrated electric propulsor from Steerprop and The Switch, a breakthrough solution for ultra-efficient ships. One of the main messages of the presentation was the low operational and service costs – as well as the minimal time and effort needed for smooth running.
Tourism in the Arctic is growing as well. Currently, 30 cruise ships equipped with ice class capabilities are under construction. Expedition cruises built for Polar Class is also an area of significant growth. And Sweden has decided to replace all of its icebreaker fleet to make it more competitive for the future.