Estonia runs out of time to acquire new icebreaker before Tarmo retired
By 2028, Estonia's fleet of three icebreakers will be reduced to two unless the state finds a replacement for Tarmo, which is expected to cease operations in two years.
The icebreaking season in Estonian waters is not yet over, said State Fleet Director Andres Laasma.
"Icebreaking is in full swing in the Port of Pärnu area, that is, in the Gulf of Riga, where the multipurpose vessel EVA-316 is operating. The route that EVA has to assist there is about 40 nautical miles long," Laasma said.
In the Gulf of Finland, ice along Estonia's coast has essentially cleared, but the icebreaker Botnica remains on standby at the Port of Sillamäe, ready to respond. For example, if the wind changes, ice could drift back from the Russian side toward Estonia and once again begin to obstruct shipping. The oldest icebreaker, Tarmo, has currently finished operations.
There were also some issues with Tarmo this winter. In addition to technical faults, the vessel had to undergo repairs at Saaremaa Deep Harbor. The 63-year-old ship is expected to be retired in two years and no replacement is currently planned.
"Until last year, we had a clear plan to begin building a new icebreaker, but since the state budget strategy did not allocate funds for this, the project has been put on hold. The construction time for an icebreaker is at least three years and this would also need to be preceded by a design period, so it is clear that by 2028 a new vessel definitely cannot be completed under these circumstances," Laasma said.
According to him, a full overhaul of Tarmo would cost tens of millions of euros, which is not practical for such an old vessel. The planned new icebreaker would have cost approximately €122 million.
"When planning this vessel, we also applied for funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). Our initial plan was to receive €60 million from there, or about half of the budget. Unfortunately, we only secured €33.6 million and the remaining amount — more than €90 million — simply could not be accommodated within the state budget strategy," the head of the State Fleet said.
They are now working with the Ministry of Climate to find a new solution to replace Tarmo. According to Laasma, this will likely be a second-hand vessel, though he declined to provide details as planning is still ongoing.
Thus, when Tarmo is retired, Estonia will hopefully not have to manage with only two icebreakers. According to the State Fleet director, that would not be strategically safe.
"First, we are not protected against the possibility of severe ice conditions occurring over several consecutive years. Second, a situation may arise where one of the icebreakers breaks down, so we definitely need a third icebreaker that would serve as a secondary, support vessel in the Gulf of Finland and also be capable of stepping in as a replacement. This is a matter of capacity and it is important for the state, since 55 percent of Estonia's trade still moves by sea," Laasma said.
Like EVA-316, the replacement for Tarmo should also be multipurpose, Laasma added, as this would be financially sensible. For example, Estonia needs the capability to respond to marine pollution incidents.
Asked whether a replacement for Tarmo will definitely be in place by the time it is retired, Andres Laasma declined to give a direct answer.
"We are working on it and once we have a clear plan for how to proceed — including, for example, finding a suitable vessel on the global market — we will be able to make concrete decisions," Laasma said.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski, Mirjam Mäekivi
