No Ice in the Southern Finland

This winter the coastal waters in Southern Finland are free of ice - and that is very extreme, reports Helsingin Sanomat, Finlands largest newspaper.

The ice-situation really surprises the researchers.

"True, this is quite exceptional", tells researcher Jouni Vainio of the Finnish Institute of Marine Research to Helsingin Sanomat.

In average winters there is 29 centimetres of ice outside Helsinki, but this winter there is nothing. Also the winter of 2005 was iceless. The shipping lanes were totally free of ice, but at least the inner bays and shoreline waters were iced over.

The mild and iceless winter has kept most of the icebreakers tied up in port as well. In the Gulf of Finland there has been no need for icebreaker services, and even in the Bay of Bothnia at the northern end of the Baltic Sea, only a small area has required services from two of the vessels, maritime inspector Åke Tötterström reveals.

Often the first icebreaker assistance is needed in the Gulf of Finland at the beginning of January. In February, two vessels have usually been needed there. Now the crews of the idle ships keep their accumulated holidays, or spend time repairing and servicing the vessels.