A cruise ship carrying over 200 passengers had to call for assistance after getting stuck in thick ice off the Finland coast.
Hanseatic Spirit, operated by Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, has a PC6 ice-class rating, but even that was no match for heavy sea ice that was up to three meters thick.
Cruise Ship Stuck in Three-Meter-Thick Ice
Hanseatic Spirit is capable of navigating through ice up to 70 cm. It got stuck off the coast of Kemi, Finland, in the frozen waters of Bothnian Bay as temperatures dropped to -5°C (23°F).
Passengers were informed of the issue by Captain Claas Fischer, and an icebreaker was deployed to assist.
However, this attempt was not successful, and reinforcements were called.
A second, more powerful icebreaker was dispatched to help clear a navigable channel through the ice for Hanseatic Spirit.
This was completed and the 15,000-gross-ton ship could resume its itinerary on Monday.
Hanseatic Spirit is on a two-week Lapland expedition cruise ending at Hamburg’s Altona Cruise Terminal later this week.
Before becoming stuck in the ice, it had visited Stockholm and Lulea, Sweden.
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, a subsidiary of TUI Cruises and the Royal Caribbean group, says the ship has made up time and is back on its normal schedule.
Finland’s icebreaker fleet is among the most advanced in the world and routinely comes to the aid of ships stuck in ice in and around the Baltic Sea during winter.
“Only with the help of Finnish icebreakers, the journey continued. A spectacular maneuver that many guests wouldn’t miss,” the cruise line said.
Shipboard activities were uninterrupted during the time spent in the ice.
The unexpected twist led to a series of lectures by the ship’s General Expedition Manager, Sascha Richter, on polar environment navigation and the effects of climate change.
