SYKE moves to remove oil from Ilmarinen shipwreck

The Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) has taken a move to remove the oil from the wrecked coastal defence ship Ilmarinen, said an official press release on Monday.

The SYKE launched a tendering on February 9 for removing the oil as a part of its statutory monitoring of high-risk shipwrecks. The plan is to drain the oil from the oil tanks of the wreck during 2024.

The condition of shipwrecks was monitored and the sites for oil removal were selected with the help of a risk assessment based on studies and monitoring data.

Coastal defence ship Ilmarinen sank in northern Baltic Sea, about 40 kilometres to south-west from the island of Utö, after hitting a mine on September 13, 1941.

The wreck is located at a depth of about 80 metres and its tanks contain an estimated 100,000 litres of light fuel oil. The Ilmarinen wreck is the grave of 271 marines, but the oil removal can be carried out without disturbing the sanctity of the grave.

In 2023, the SYKE conducted a pre-salvage survey on the Ilmarinen wreck in cooperation with the Finnish Border Guard and the Finnish Heritage Agency. In addition to an archive review, the vessel was filmed with a diving robot (remotely operated vehicle, ROV) and multibeam echo sounder, water and sediment samples were taken from the wreck, and a 3D model of the vessel’s hull and tanks was prepared.

According to the pre-salvage survey, the Ilmarinen wreck is well preserved, but there are significant changes on its surface caused by corrosion. Oil droplets have been regularly observed on the surface above the wreck, but it was not possible to locate the exact place of the oil leak on the wreck.

“The corrosion of the wreck is progressing, and the risk of a larger oil spill is growing year by year. The Ilmarinen wreck is upside down on the seabed, but it will be relatively easy to access the fuel tanks through the vessel’s bottom structure”, said Coordinator Miia Farstad of the SYKE.

Project manager Tommi Kontto of the SYKE explained that the oil removal of the Ilmarinen wreck will be a pilot for an arrangement where a commercial operator carries out the removal as a turnkey solution without authority assistance.

Until now, wrecks in the Finnish sea area have been emptied of fuel by the authorities. For example, in August 2020, the wrecks of Hanna Marjut and Fortuna in the Finnish Archipelago Sea were drained of fuel in a collaboration between the Finnish Environment Institute and the Navy.

A maximum of EUR 2 million has been reserved for the project that is now being tendered.