No matter how far you looked out to sea from the Nasva shipyard, just west of Kuressaare, when "Aktuaalne kaamera" visited, no open water could be spotted anywhere in sight. The BWB vessels moored at the quayside had been ready for many weeks now, but have not been handed over to customers simply because the boats are not of a variety which can cut through the ice.

Sometimes recipient countries are grappling with the same issues this winter.

"There has been quite a lot of explaining to do, but for example the port of Klaipėda [in Lithuania], where these vessels were destined, is also frozen, which is highly unusual for them too. That made the negotiations somewhat easier. Luckily, as of now we have also reached compromise solutions with some customers," BWB plant manager Erik Aleksejev said.

Down at the shipyard, a total of 16 different vessels were at various stages in the construction process. The new work vessel to go to Estonia's state fleet is also almost completely finished and waiting at the quay, and now would have been the time to launch it, but that is not viable either, in ice as thick as 70 cm or more.

"We just went to measure the ice thickness at the slipway where the vessel is supposed to go, and it was 71 cm. It's impossible to put it there — physically it simply won't get through. The straps of our launching equipment would not withstand that either. So this is a very major and serious challenge, and it will certainly affect testing and delivery. The delivery deadline is approaching fast, and based on what we know today, meeting it will be rather difficult," Aleksejev went on.

A double whammy comes in the fact that water levels are so low, partly due to the ice itself and partly due to the high-pressure zone which brought the cold snap, pushing the water level down, that an icebreaker could not even make its way into Nasva harbor.

All that BWB and local residents can do is sit it out and wait for the spring thaw. Although signs of that coming are already here, the sea ice will take a lot longer to thaw, likely well into next month and even into April, even as the ambient temperatures get much milder.

The ice has disrupted even larger vessels than those BWB builds, including ferry services to Hiiumaa. Some of Estonia's smaller islands have been practically cut off, with transport over the ice, for instance by hovercraft or ATV, one of the few viable, if risky, options.

BWB has in the past made two force protection vessels for the Estonian Navy (Merevägi), and is in the hunt for the tender for a semi-autonomous naval vessel too. Other customers include Belgium's state-owned DAB Vloot, which a little over a year ago BWB signed a €110-million deal with.

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