The ice cover of the Baltic Sea varies considerably from year to year. The northern parts freeze every winter, sometimes completely during hard winters. The current icebreaker fleet available in the Baltic Sea is incapable of providing a satisfactory level of service in a hard ice winter. The combination of growing traffic volumes and hard ice winters can lead to serious difficulties for industrial and commercial transports.

Some vessels of the current icebreaker fleet are close to reaching their lifespan. Replacement investments will not yield a satisfactory level of service in hard ice winter conditions. Even in an average ice winter, a satisfactory level is nearly impossible due to growing traffic volumes. For example: a large oil tanker requires simultaneous assistance from two traditional icebreakers. Only combined are they capable of breaking a sufficiently wide channel through ice.