In the following year she took part in Arctic Demonstration and Exploratory Voyage (ARCDEV), a research project funded by the European Union to determine the feasibility of year-around navigation in the Northern Sea Route.

[9][12] Fortum sold Uikku to Murmansk Shipping Company in 2003 mainly due to the tanker's age exceeding 25 years.

[1] As Fortum was a state-owned company, the selling of two oil tankers capable of navigating in severe ice conditions resulted in a written question to the Parliament of Finland by Representative Pentti Tiusanen about whether the ships should be retained in Finnish control as they could be used to lighten a grounded oil tanker in harsh winter conditions.

[14] On 19 July 2010 Varzuga collided with her sister ship Indiga while being assisted by two nuclear-powered icebreakers in difficult ice conditions.

[16] After having been laid up for a year, Varzuga was reportedly sold for scrap and towed to a shipbreaking yard in Aliağa, Turkey, for recycling.

[21] To prevent pollution in case of grounding, the ships were also built with double hulls and conformed to the IMCO regulations in respect of segregated ballast tanks even though they were regarded only recommendations back then.

[2][20] Uikku was extensively modernized by Kværner Masa-Yards' Helsinki New Shipyard in 1993 and became the first merchant ship to receive a newly developed electronic azimuthing propulsion unit, Azipod.

Being one of the early designs, the Azipod unit in Uikku was of the so-called "pushing" type with an aft-facing propeller instead of the more efficient "pulling" set-up used in modern Azipod-equipped ships.

[11] The modernization of Uikku helped to demonstrate the feasibility of the double acting ship (DAS) principle for year-round navigation in ice-covered waters.