Steerprop thrusters for Finnish border force

The Finnish Border Guard will replace three obsolete patrol vessels with two new offshore patrol vessels, enhancing existing capability with more up-to-date vessels to manage border safety and open sea patrols.

“Our new patrol vessels are multi-purpose vessels that have the capacity to handle a wide range of national and international duties all year round in the diverse conditions of the Baltic Sea,” said Commander Marko Aheristo, head of ship technical unit at the Finnish Border Guard.

“The vessels are also designed to meet higher emissions standards and prioritise energy efficiency, making them a practical, functional and cost-effective solution,” he added.

Steerprop will equip the new vessels with a combi retractable thruster and tunnel thruster, both delivering a power of 850 kW per unit. This will be the first delivery for the Steerprop retractable thruster series.

The combi retractable thruster is a combined azimuth thruster and a tunnel thruster with a robust retracting mechanism which the company says gives flexible manoeuvring in harbour operations when the thruster is retracted along with energy-efficient station-keeping when the thruster is deployed.

“The ship propulsion and the manoeuvring systems play a key role in a ship’s ability to perform demanding operations,” said Juho Rekola, director, Sales and Project Management at Steerprop.

“By using Steerprop’s expertise in computational fluid dynamics, we are able to optimise the integration of thrusters on board to achieve maximum performance, energy efficiency,and comfort.”

The planned delivery of the equipment will be in 2024 and 2025.