A series of tests in an ice tank was carried out using a model-scale ship to investigate the ice loading process. The ship model Uikku was mounted on a rigid carriage and towed through a level ice field in the ice tank of the Marine Technology Group at Aalto University. The carriage speed and ice thickness were varied. In this paper, ice loading process was described and the corresponding ice forces on the horizontal plane were analysed. A new method is proposed to decompose different ice force components from the total ice forces measured in the model tests. This analysis method is beneficial to understanding contributions of each force component and modelling of ice loading on hulls. The analysed experimental results could be used for comparison with further numerical simulations.