''Umiak I'' is a purpose-built ice-strengthened

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially naval architecture, designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as Grain trade, grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrie ...

constructed for the Voisey's Bay Nickel Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municip ...

, to transport ore from the

Voisey's Bay Mine Voisey's Bay Mine is a nickel mine in Labrador, Canada, near the bay of the same name. The mine is located about southwest of Nain. Nickel deposit A large nickel deposit was discovered in the hills along the western shore of Potato Islan ...

. According to an article in the April 2006 issue of '' The Gossan'' an internal publication of the Voisey's Bay Nickel Company, ''Umiak I'' had completed her

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s in Japan, and her delivery was expected in May 2006. "

Umiak The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak is a type of open skin boat, used by the Yupik peoples, Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland. First used in Thule people, Thule ...

is the Inuktitut name for a supply boat or sometimes called a woman's boat, and is a fitting name for a vessel carrying concentrate from Voisey's Bay".Umiak I
'' The Gossan: A Voisey's Bay Nickel Company Publication'', issue 10, April 2006 ''Umiak I'' makes twelve trips per year, transporting a total of 360,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate, worth $1.5 billion CAD. Fednav also operated a similar ice-strengthened bulk carrier, ''Arctic'', which shared the load with ''Umiak I''; she was later scrapped in 2021. On 30 October 2012, Fednav announced it had ordered a third icebreaking cargo vessel from Universal Shipbuilding Corporation's Tsu shipyard in Japan. The Polar Class 4 vessel, ''

Nunavik Nunavik (; ; ) is an area in Canada which comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homelan ...

'', entered service in January 2014. Another similar vessel, ''

Arvik I Owrang (, also Romanized as Avarang and Avrang; also known as Arvik) is a village in Azghan Rural District, in the Central District (Ahar County), Central District of Ahar County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population w ...

'', was built in 2021.

Design

''Umiak I'' is long and has a beam of . Fully laden, she draws of water and has a

deadweight tonnage Deadweight tonnage (also known as deadweight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water Fresh water or ...

of 31,992 tons. Designed for operations in Arctic ice-infested waters and assigned

ice class Ice class refers to a notation assigned by a classification society or a national authority to denote the additional level of strengthening as well as other arrangements that enable a ship to navigate through sea ice. Some ice classes also have ...

ICE-15 by

Det Norske Veritas Det Norske Veritas (DNV), formerly DNV GL, is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. DNV provides services for several industries, including maritime, oil and gas, renewable energy, e ...

, she has a sloping icebreaker bow and a hull strengthened for independent operations in ice up to thick without icebreaker escort.The world's strongest: Umiak I
Fednav. A bulk carrier designed to carry nickel concentrate, ''Umiak I'' has five holds with a combined grain capacity of 40,490 cubic metres. She is geared with three cranes, one 50-ton crane serving holds 1 and 2, and two 30-ton cranes serving holds 3, 4 and 5. In addition to bulk cargo, she can also carry re-supply cargoes for the production operations, including fuel oil. ''Umiak I'' is powered by a seven-cylinder MAN B&W-

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

7S70ME-C low-speed two-stroke

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

producing . The main engine is coupled directly to a ducted controllable-pitch propeller. The variable-pitch propeller allows backing and ramming in heavy ice conditions without reversing the engine, and the nozzle protects it from ice impacts and provides additional thrust. In open water, ''Umiak I'' can achieve a speed of with only 35% engine load. In ice, she can maintain a speed of with the aid of a water deluge system in the bow. For onboard electricity generator, she is fitted with three six-cylinder STX-built MAN 6L23/30H generating sets.

Media

''Umiak I'' was featured in an hour-long documentary in season 5 of '' Mighty Ships''.
Smithsonian Channel

References

{{Reflist 2005 ships Bulk carriers Merchant ships of Canada