[6] Nordica is classified by Det Norske Veritas with a class notation 1A1 POLAR-10 Icebreaker Tug Supply Vessel SF HELDK EPR E0 DYNPOS-AUTR.

[10] The aforementioned design with the maximum breadth in the foreship and a narrower hull aftship, provides the multipurpose vessel also good seakeeping characteristics.

The vessel had to be able to operate at least 80% of the time in the North Sea in the summer and autumn season plus have a roll period longer than 10 seconds.

At the midship and aft ship area there are also exceptionally wide bilge shelves as an integral part of the hull, to further dampen the rolling.

Since Nordica acts as an escort icebreaker during the winter season, she is also equipped with a Aquamaster-Rauma anchor handling and towing winch, and stern notch for assisting merchant ships.

[6] In late 2011 they were also retrofitted with catalytic converters and urea spraying systems to reduce NOx emissions in order to meet the strict EPA requirements.

The 177-ton[16] thrusters, driven by ABB Strömberg AC/AC propulsion motors rated at 7,500 kW, considerably improve the maneuverability of the icebreaker.

As a result the existing icebreakers had an effective operational time of only three to five months per year and spent the summer season moored at Katajanokka in Helsinki.

A multipurpose application of the new icebreakers would thus result in a better utilization of the vessels and, assuming they were chartered by a commercial third party during the summer, improve the economics of the state-owned fleet.

The ship, delivered in 1998 as Botnica, was slightly smaller than the previous Finnish multipurpose icebreakers and had several other differences, such as twelve Caterpillar high-speed diesel engines instead of medium-speed units and Azipod electric azimuth thrusters instead of the ducted Z-drive Aquamasters.

When Fennica and Nordica entered service in 1993 and 1994, it was agreed that the multipurpose icebreakers would be chartered for offshore duties about 180 days per year during the ice-free season.

[25] In 2002, Halliburton Offshore and DSND combined their resources and the exclusive charter of the multipurpose icebreakers was transferred to the new company, Subsea 7, that held it until 2004.

[21][26] In November 1994, the then-new Nordica and the Swedish minesweeper HMS Furusund raised the bow visor of the car ferry Estonia that capsized and sank on 28 September 1994 with a loss of 852 lives.

Later a separate company, GDV Maritime AS, was established together with Norwegian partners and handled the global marketing of the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers until 2008.

[29] In November 2011, Shell Oil Company signed a three-year contract with Arctia Offshore and chartered the Finnish multipurpose icebreakers Fennica and Nordica to serve as primary ice management vessels in the Chukchi Sea during the summer seasons of 2012–2014.

[29][30] The decision to charter the Finnish icebreakers to support Arctic offshore drilling was widely criticized due potential environmental damage in case of oil spill.

On 16 March 2012, some 52 Greenpeace activists from five different countries boarded Fennica and Nordica at Arctech Helsinki Shipyard to protest Shell's drilling operations in Alaska.

[39] The icebreaker then returned to Europe via the Northwest Passage, carrying an international group of scientists and journalists on "Arctic 100" expedition from the west coast of Canada to Greenland.

[43][44][45] The incident ended the co-operation between DSND and the Finnish Maritime Administration and left many people suspicious about the profitability of the multipurpose icebreakers.

In addition, the head of the Government Ownership Steering Department, Pekka Timonen, had threatened two top executives of the company with firing unless they complied with the request.

[54][55][56] In open water, the multipurpose icebreakers have not been competitive against purpose-built offshore vessels due to their higher fuel consumption.

[57] The state-owned shipping company Arctia and its predecessors have also been criticized for the financial losses and low profitability of the offshore business.

[58][59] Unable to compete commercially against purpose-built offshore vessels, the multipurpose icebreakers would be the last ones to be hired unless they were offered at significantly reduced day rates.

[62] Nordica and the other Finnish multipurpose icebreakers are sometimes jokingly referred to as "Moulinex ships" after the French brand of household appliances and kitchen equipment.