MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile launches the first icebreaker made in South America

She cost US$ 215 million, displaces some 13,000 tons and was co-designed with Vard Marines shipbuilders from Canada

The first icebreaker built in Latin America, Almirante Oscar Viel, was launched last week from the state-run naval ASMAR shipyard in Talcahuano, Chile after five years of construction

 The Almirante Oscar Veil replaces the icebreaker of the same name (6,300 tons) which has been in service from 1995 to 2019, and was originally from the Canadian Ice Patrol. The construction of this Polar Class 5 icebreaker is a prestige project for Chile and was closely monitored by the government.

A spokesperson from the Chilean Navy said this is ASMAR's “most ambitious project” since the creation of the shipyard in 1960. The new Almirante Viel has a length of 111 meters, beam and draft of 21 and 7,2 meters, and a displacement of about 13,000 tons, making it the largest vessel built by ASMAR to date and the first ship of this type built in South America.

Local reports indicate the ship could complete outfitting by July 2023 with port trials scheduled to begin in December 2023 and commissioning in August 2024, giving time to prepare for its first deployment in December–March (austral summer).

Almirante Viel is being built under Project ‘Antártica I' for US$ 215 million to the VARD 9 203 design from Canadian shipbuilder Vard Marine, a subsidiary of Italian naval shipyard Fincantieri.

The spokesperson said it will provide the Chilean Navy with a vessel dedicated to research science in Antarctica, supplying bases, surveillance of the maritime zone, rescue and salvage operations, and that the ship “will be able to accommodate 35 scientists”, plus its 86 crew.

She will be able to sail through one-year ice, one meter thick, at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) Maritime Executive reports and when completed, she will be comparable to Argentina's refurbished ARA Almrante Irizar, originally from Finland.-