Steerprop to Help Outfit Finnish Border Guard Ship

Steerprop won a contract with Meyer Turku shipyard to supply tunnel thrusters and retractable combi thrusters for two newbuild multi-purpose patrol vessels for the Finnish Border Guard.

The Finnish Border Guard will replace three obsolete patrol vessels with two new offshore patrol vessels, similar in size to the Turva (Finnish for “protection” or “security”), the largest patrol vessel in the fleet to date.

“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 prioritize energy efficiency, making them a practical, functional, and cost-effective solution,” Mr. Aheristo continues.

Steerprop will equip the Finnish Border Guard’s new vessels with a Steerprop combi retractable thruster and a Steerprop 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. It enables flexible maneuvering in harbor operations when the thruster is retracted, and energy-efficient station-keeping when the thruster is deployed.

Juho Rekola, Director, Sales and Project Management at Steerprop. Image courtesy Steerprop