The Aura-Class multipurpose deck dry cargo vessels are owned by Gaiamare, a subsidiary of Meriaura Oy.
The keel for the first cargo vessel in the series, Aura, was laid in October 2006 and the vessel was commissioned in January 2008. It was built at the Gdansk shiprepair yard Remontowa in Poland, classified under the Bureau Veritas Finnish Ice class 1A and operates with the Finland flag.
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Aura II is the second vessel in the class. It is being built to meet the requirements of the growing offshore wind farm market.
Gaiamare awarded a contract to STX Finland in March 2011 to design and construct Aura II. The construction work is being carried out at STX Finland’s Turku shipyard.
Construction of the Aura II vessel began in 2011 and is scheduled for delivery in 2012. The design and machinery of the 4,350dwt vessel will be fully compliant with the Finnish and Swedish Ice Class 1A. The vessel will operate under the flagship of Finland.
Design
The 4,700dwt Aura was designed to transport industrial steel structures, heavy cargoes, oversized freight, timber, logs, buhr, finished granite, wind turbine components and 240 TEU 20in containers on its 80m unimpeded cargo deck either by ro-ro or lo-lo method in the Baltic and North Sea.
It has an overall length of 101.8m and a breadth of 18.8m, while depth is 6.55m and draught is 4.7m.
The 105m-long and 19m-wide Aura II was designed to transport industrial products and project cargo, such as offshore wind farms and energy wood in the Baltic Sea region.
The vessel can carry a maximum of 5,000t of cargo on deck and is the first dry cargo vessel to be fitted with a double acting ship (DASTM) system, which enables it to operate even in difficult winter ice conditions. Aker Arctic is the prime contractor involved in the supply of the DASTM system.
Aura II was designed to function as an emergency oil response ship and execute oil spill response missions.
The ship will double the oil recovery capacity of Finland with the incorporation of 2,700m3 capacity oil recovery tanks and equipment in the hull section.
Navigation
In August 2011 STX Finland contracted Navis Engineering to design, build and supply the NavDP4000 dynamic positioning (DP) system for Aura II.
The NavDP4000 DP system is developed by overhauling the existing Navis IVCS system with advance touchscreen technology. It provides the vessel with fast access to the system functions, ensuring a reduction in the number of buttons used in the main control panel.
The system displays all the possible combinations of control forces in the surge and sway axes for a given value of the rotational control moment and enables excellent manoeuvrability.
Propulsion
Aura is powered by two four-stroke 6R32 diesel engines. Each engine can produce maximum continuous power of 2,220kW.
The vessel is also equipped with two Rolls-Royce Aquamaster US255CPs, a 450kW bow thruster, two 600kW generators and a Scania 315kW auxiliary engine. The vessel can sail at a maximum speed of 13 knots and its economic speed is eight knots.
STX Finland awarded a contract to Wärtsilä Engines in May 2011 to design, manufacture and supply liquid bio-fuel Wärtsilä Diesel 6L20 engines for Aura II.
Three Wärtsilä four-stroke 6L20 diesel engines will be fitted to Aura II. The engines can operate on versatile liquid bio-fuels (LBF) and marine diesel oil (MDO).
Each engine can generate 1,026kW of output power at 750rpm. The vessel is equipped with two electric rudder propellers and two bow thrusters, allowing it to operate sideways in open water for more oil recovery. It is compliant with the IMO Tier II exhaust emissions standards.
The length and width of the engine is 5.4m and 1.85m respectively. The height is 2.37m and the dry weight is 18t.
