An icy experience in Kemi

The seaport city of Kemi is located in northern Europe, in Finland, near the Arctic Circle. In the winter the field of ice, which forms up in the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, is the largest in Europe, offering fascinating possibilities for finding and experiencing the real arctic. The Ajos harbour in Kemi is the only place in the world, from which in just a few hours, one can experience the enchantment of a quiet shoreless field of ice and the breathtaking majesty of an arctic winter. In early November the Gulf gradually begins to freeze and the ice season lasts until May.

Icebreaker Sampo can take 150 passengers on board. There are sixteen people in the crew. The length of the vessel is 75 meters, beam 17,5 meters and draught 7 meters. The 4 main engines can generate 8 800 horse powers.

Thousands of groups from all over the world have experienced the icy, but heart-warming adventure in safe arctic conditions. Icebreaker Sampo, the only passenger icebreaker in the world, and the exotic experiences have been the subject of dozens inspiring television documentaries and hundreds of interesting newspaper and magazine articles in Europe, America and Asia. A northern winter isn't just plain darkness. It also has white snow, soft light blue sky, bright sunshine, the scenery becomes blue as the day darkens slowly in the evening, but it never turns into a dark black night. The northern lights blaze in the sky of Lapland. The stars twinkle brightly and the moon lights the cross country skier's night trail.

Throughout the ages, people have struggled to control their environment in order to stay alive. This is also the case in the arctic world. Without an icebreaker, seafaring at this latitude would be impossible in many months. The help of an icebreaker with its special equipment has been vital to keep routes open. When nature surrenders to technology, a fascinating scene is born. Over a meter thick ice cracks and breaks spattering and crackling as the force and the speed of the icebreaker tackles it.

Before Sampo became a passenger vessel, it served nearly thirty years owned by the Finnish government as an icebreaker for the serving, the shipping companies. Approximately sixty percent of the world's icebreakers are built in Finland. The expertise of the Finnish ship building industry shows how the technical equipment can still be original, yet functional and safe.