Polaris was initially ordered by the Finnish Transport Agency, but the ownership was transferred to the state-owned icebreaker operator Arctia after delivery.

While the history of winter navigation in Finland dates back to the strengthened sleigh-boats used to carry mail from Finland to Sweden in the 17th century, the annual "ice blockade" that closed the Finnish ports for the winter months and stopped nearly all foreign trade was not broken until 1890 when the Finnish Board of Navigation commissioned one of the first purpose-built icebreakers in the world.

[4] In the early 1980s, the Finnish National Board of Navigation began looking for a replacement for the three 1950s icebreakers which were small and, despite their size, expensive to operate as they required a relatively large crew of 53.

They were replaced by two large icebreakers, Otso and Kontio, featuring extensive automation, alternating current propulsion motors with cycloconverter drive, and a sleek hull form perfected in a model basin, but for the first time since the late 1800s no bow propellers.

When the next class of post-war icebreakers was approaching the end of its economic life, it was decided to replace them with multipurpose vessels that could be chartered to support commercial offshore operations in oil fields when they were not needed in the Finnish waters.

The specification also called for excellent maneuverability, demonstrated by the ability to turn 180 degrees in 3 minutes within two ship's lengths in the aforementioned ice conditions.

Since icebreakers traditionally have poor seakeeping characteristics due to their rounded hull form, the technical specification stressed the vessel's ability to carry out oil spill response and emergency towing operations in 95% of the prevailing wind and wave conditions in the Baltic Sea.

In addition to conceptual design, which included comparing two concept alternatives — a conventional icebreaker with two azimuth thrusters and a new concept with three propulsion units — in terms of performance and cost, the companies would prepare the technical material needed to arrange the tender for the construction of the vessel and assist the Finnish Transport Agency in negotiations with shipyards.

[15] On 20 June 2013, the Finnish Transport Agency published a request for tender for the construction of the new icebreaker with an intention of creating a shortlist of three to five shipyards that would be invited to the final call for bids later in the autumn.

[38] After leaving Helsinki on 9 January, the vessel stopped at Pori on the western coast of Finland for additional food provisions and 700 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas before heading to the Bothnian Bay to escort merchant ships to and from Finnish ports.

In the mid-1980s, the Finnish National Board of Navigation launched a project to find secondary uses for the new vessels it was planning to build as a replacement for some of the oldest icebreakers.

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

Arctia, the state-owned shipping company that owns and operates the Finnish icebreaker fleet, called for a multi-role vessel that could be employed year-round instead of just the winter navigation season.

Previously, the company had chartered Fennica and Nordica to support Shell Oil's exploration drilling operations in the Arctic waters off Alaska and was looking for more profitable business outside the Baltic Sea during the summer months.

However, the Finnish Minister of Transport Merja Kyllönen (Left Alliance) voiced her opposition to a ship that would be 50% more expensive to build than a traditional icebreaker.

According to the Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, these decisions were made in order to guarantee that the new icebreaker, which would now be employed only for about 100 days per year, would not head out to the Arctic waters.

[54][55][56] In October 2014, the newly appointed Finnish Minister of Transport Paula Risikko (National Coalition Party) questioned her predecessors' decision to order the icebreaker for an expert organization operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport and Communications instead of the state-owned shipping company which was established to own and manage the Finnish state-owned icebreaker fleet.

[32] On 25 November 2014, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy published a statement regarding the future of the state-owned shipping company, Arctia, and its fleet of aging icebreakers.

[60] Generally, this statement was seen as a major change in government policy regarding the use of Finnish icebreakers to support potentially controversial operations such as oil exploration in the Arctic.

[34][33] Like the multipurpose icebreakers built in the 1990s, Polaris has an asymmetric bridge to maximize visibility to all directions from the main steering position on the starboard side.

[63] Although the icebreaker is stationed in the Baltic Sea where there is only seasonal ice cover, she is designed according to the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) Unified Requirements for Polar Class Ships.

However, she is the first icebreaker in the world to be powered by dual-fuel engines capable of using both low-sulfur marine diesel oil (LSMDO) as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel.

[66] In average winter conditions, the vessel has an autonomy time of 10 days when operating on liquefied natural gas, which is stored in two vertical tanks with a total volume of 800 cubic metres (28,000 cu ft).

Fuel oil, stored in separate tanks with a combined volume of 2,500 cubic metres (88,000 cu ft), provides additional 20 days of endurance in similar ice conditions.

[65] This new type of propulsion system was selected to fulfill the strict operational capability requirements set by the Finnish Transport Agency particularly in ridged ice fields.