Double Acting Ship
Polar Technology

Arctic Bridge
Polar Trade Route

Canadian Shipping
Coast Guard Support

References

Marine technology has advanced the principal of the Double Acting Ship (DAS) in recent years.  Simply put, a supply vessel designed in DAS format is constructed with an ice-strengthened hull and equipped with azimuth pod propulsion technology.  Secondly, the stern of the vessel is constructed in similar fashion to the likes of a bow on a traditional icebreaker.  When navigating through sea ice that becomes cumbersome for conventional transit, the vessel will then rotate the stern to the forward direction and proceed in a more efficient manner.  Typical DAS vessels are able to transit sea ice of 1.5 meters in thickness.

Azimuth pod propulsion technology works on the simple premise that unlike conventional marine propulsion requiring the likes of rudders and drive shafts (all exposed material underneath the vessel’s hull – increased friction) to operate, the azimuth system are independent pods that can rotate 360-degrees.

Azimuth pods Photo Credit: Aker Arctic Technology Inc.

	Oil-tanker format (Tempera) Commissioned in 2002 for Finnish group Fortum Oil and Gas, the vessel’s main scope of operations is concentrated in the Baltic Sea.
	Cargo/container format (MS Norilskiy Nickel) Commissioned in 2006, the vessel services the Arctic Ocean routes for the Russian mining company Norilsk Nickel.
	Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) format Designed by Aker Arctic, the LNG format could be beneficial to the development of gas fields on Melville Island – Canadian Arctic Archipelago.