Radical New Icebreaker Will Travel Through the Ice Sideways

cylonlover writes "Given that icebreakers clear a path for other ships by traveling through the ice head-on (or sometimes butt-on), then in order for one of them to clear a wider path, it would have to be wider and thus larger overall ... right? Well, Finland's Arctech Helsinki Shipyard is taking a different, more efficient approach. It's in the process of building an asymmetric-hulled icebreaker that can increase its frontal area, by making its way through the ice at an angle of up to 30 degrees."

Comments

I suppose...

[benjfowler]

... you could call that:

*puts on sunglasses*

'lateral thinking'

Re:Waste of Time

[FatLittleMonkey]

Already done. That's why these icebreakers are so useful.

By eliminating much of the multi-year ice, all they have to worry about is the thin smooth single-year ice that forms each winter; the stuff that icebreakers like. That greatly increases the chance of a viable shipping lane being breakable along its full length each year.