The vessel changed hands again in 2003 when she was sold to her current owner, FEMCO Group, and renamed first Talagy (Russian: Талаги) and, in 2010, Kigoriak.

In just eight weeks, Canmar's engineering and design team developed an icebreaker concept which emphasized simplicity and ease of construction to ensure quick delivery.

While the hull surface was initially left unpainted with only a handful of sacrificial anodes, the bow was lined with nozzles that pumped 12,000 tons of sea water per hour onto the ice to reduce hull-ice friction.

[3][4][5][6] Most icebreakers have two or more screws and people thought we were crazy with adopting the one-prop concept ... but we decided to put all of our eggs in one basket, and then made that basket stronger than hell.After the icebreaker concept had been developed, Canmar hired the Vancouver-based engineering company Arctic Offshore Design to produce a tender package which was then handed over to Saint John Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company for detailed planning and construction.

In addition to determining the icebreaker's operational capability and limitations in extreme conditions such as large multi-year ice floes, systematic research was carried out to gain understanding of full-scale ship-ice interactions in order to develop feasible solutions for year-round transporting oil and gas from the Arctic in the future.

[3][8] During these trials, the hull and propulsion system were extensively instrumented to measure vessel motions and structural response during icebreaking operations.

Despite ingesting two foreign objects (a mooring buoy and a steel I-beam) during the early years, the single-screw vessel could continue independent operations at moderate power levels without immediate repairs.

[3] The lack of a protective coating was a serious mistake in the cold, oxygen rich, seawater and, despite the anodes, the vessel suffered from major corrosion and serious weld erosion.

[18][19] After reflagging the vessel to Liberia and shortening her name to Kigoria, the full commercial and operational management was entrusted to International Transport Contractors (ITC), a subsidiary of the Norwegian-based Tschudi Group.

[22] In a more successful salvage operation in 2000, Kigoria refloated the 35,000-ton bulk carrier Bovec at Tuck Inlet near Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

While Bovec was later declared constructive total loss and sold for scrap, the salvage operation was successful: with nearly 200 tons of pulling force, Kigoria managed to drag the bulk carrier off the rocks.

[24] In January 2003, Kigoria was dispatched from Bermuda to salvage the Finnish-flagged ro-ro vessel Camilla that had been abandoned 240 nautical miles (440 km; 280 mi) off Newfoundland due to engine troubles.

This month-long round trip via the Northwest Passage marked the end of ITC's five-year management of the vessel: shortly afterwards, Kigoria was sold to Russia.

[30] In late 2003, Kigoria was acquired by a joint venture between the Russian FEMCO Group and the Netherlands-based Smit Terminals and reflagged to Russia.

Kigoriak's spoon-shaped icebreaking bow had a flat stem and sharp shoulders followed by the channel-widening reamers at the waterline and a heavy forefoot followed by a full-length box keel.

[5][3][4][42] At the time of delivery, Kigoriak was the first icebreaking vessel built to meet the requirements of the Canadian Arctic Shipping Pollution Prevention Rules (CASPPR).

[4][43] Kigoriak had a diesel-mechanical propulsion system with two medium-speed diesel engines driving a single 4.3-metre (14 ft) four-bladed ducted controllable pitch propeller.

The twelve-cylinder Sulzer 12ZV40/48 main engines were rated at 8,700 hp (6,500 kW) each and geared to the propeller shaft using wet clutches that allowed slipping at torque peaks to protect the drivetrain from damage.