HELSINKI — Finland says it will start to operate the world’s first icebreaker powered by liquefied natural gas on Tuesday as the number of LNG-powered vessels is steadily increasing in the Nordic country that is surrounded by the Baltic Sea and is heavily reliant on maritime transport.
The state-owned operator Arctia Ltd. said on Monday that the 128 million-euro ($140 million) Polaris icebreaker, which also runs on low-sulphur diesel, is equipped with two large LNG containers allowing it two operate for 10 days in rough ice conditions without refueling.