Icebreaker

Today at CANSEC, Canada’s leading defence & security tradeshow, Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards presented its progress towards completing the functional design on the first heavy Polar Icebreaker in Canada in over 60 years. Functional Design of the vessel is now more than 70 per cent complete and 3D modelling of the vessel is well advanced, setting the stage for Seaspan to cut steel on the flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard’s icebreaking fleet before the end of the year.

 With Canada’s current largest Icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, expected to retire at the end of the decade, the new Polar Icebreaker will be one of the world’s largest, most capable and powerful icebreakers. While designed and built before the implementation of the Polar Code, the Louis’ capability is akin to a Polar Class 4. Canada’s operational requirements drive to building a new Polar Class 2 icebreaker that can independently operate anywhere in the Arctic year round – this capability includes the ability to operate at -50 degrees Celsius which introduces considerable complexity to the design and build of the vessel.

Most icebreakers primarily break ice.  The new Polar Icebreaker will also be capable of fulfilling many different demanding missions necessary for Canada including a wide array of Arctic science missions, search and rescue, security, navigation, transportation and emergency response.   This impressive range of capabilities also adds to the design and engineering challenges that are being addressed by the Canadian Coast Guard and the Seaspan team.

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Technology group Wärtsilä will supply the engines for a new Canadian Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker. The ship is being designed and built at Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards and will be the flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard’s icebreaking fleet. Because of the long operational range required for the vessel’s employment in arctic waters, fuel efficiency was a prime design consideration in the selection of the Wärtsilä 31 engine. The Wärtsilä 31 engine has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s most efficient 4-stroke diesel engine and was therefore considered an obvious choice. The order was booked by Wärtsilä in Q3 2023.

The 158 metre-long multi-mission Polar Icebreaker will operate under PC2 conditions with four 16-cylinder and two 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 31 engines, delivering 47 MW of power. The engines will be fitted with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems for IMO Tier III environmental compliance. Wärtsilä will also supply the centre shaft line with a stainless-steel ice-class propeller, as well as Wärtsilä’s NACOS Platinum navigation system.

“Wärtsilä has a fine track record and years of experience in delivering high-class marine technologies including recently delivering the propulsion equipment for the Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSV), plus the diesel generator sets for the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV) built at Seaspan for the Canadian Coast Guard,” commented Leo Martin, Senior Vice President – Programs, Seaspan Shipyards.

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Chantier Davie Canada Inc. (Davie) today announced it has been awarded its first National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) contract by the Government of Canada for the design of the six-ship fleet of Canada’s future Program Icebreakers. This major milestone marks the beginning of Davie’s NSS work package to replenish Canada’s Arctic fleet and each initiative under the contract will help advance upcoming design, construction, delivery and support phases for these strategic ships.

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada’s Minister of Public Services and Procurement (PSPC) said: “This first contract awarded to Chantier Davie under the National Shipbuilding Strategy brings us a step closer to providing the Canadian Coast Guard with the next generation Arctic ships. They will be among the most advanced, sustainable and durable vessels tailored to the world’s harshest environments. The new fleet will be symbolic of Canada’s Arctic presence and crucial to keeping our country open for business year-round.”

Davie President and CEO, James Davies, said: “This is a momentous first step in our journey to deliver a fleet of the largest and most advanced icebreakers ever built in and for Canada. My heartfelt thanks go to the dedicated teams at Davie, the Canadian Coast Guard and PSPC. They have spent countless hours preparing for this historic milestone. Now, we can’t wait to get working on renewing Canada’s Arctic fleet.”

Davie will establish a Program Icebreaker project management and design office, providing compelling opportunities for current and future generations of Canadian shipbuilders. Davie is committed to recruiting teams of highly skilled shipbuilding professionals, who will drive all aspects of constructing the world’s largest order book of heavy icebreakers.

Moreover, Davie will engage critical subcontractors to design and certify the vessel to established safety, environmental, and performance standards. Building on Davie’s proven track record of delivering vessels of exceptional quality and performance, this early phase is fundamental in guaranteeing sustained operational readiness and capability to best serve the CCG’s missions.

Julian Kenney, Program Director for the Program Icebreakers at Davie, said: “Embarking on the design and construction of Canada’s new icebreaker fleet is a great source of pride for everyone at Davie. We have a strong partnership with the Canadian Coast Guard and our top priority is to design and build the icebreakers Canada needs to keep our waterways open, protect our environment, and secure the Arctic.”

About Davie Based in Québec, Canada since 1825, Davie is a world-class designer and builder of specialist, mission-critical ships such as icebreakers, ferries and warships for government and commercial customers. Davie became a partner in the Government of Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy on April 4, 2023. This historic agreement is for the design and construction of the largest and most technologically advanced ships ever constructed in and for Canada. The initial $8.5 billion package of work includes seven heavy icebreakers and two large hybrid-powered ferries. Davie is a part of Group Davie, which in November 2023 acquired Finland’s Helsinki Shipyard, the world leader in icebreaker design and construction. Find out more at davie.ca and helsinkishipyard.fi.

For further information, please contact: Marcel Poulin Director, External Affairs and Industrial Participation, Davie marcel.poulin@davie.ca +1 581 992-8564

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• ABB has secured a comprehensive propulsion system contract with Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyard for the first of the Canadian Coast Guard’s new-generation polar icebreakers
   
• The icebreaker is expected to be the world’s largest and most powerful diesel-electric icebreaker when it enters service in 2030
   
• Azipod® propulsion has been selected to support the vessel’s operational efficiency, reliability and icebreaking capability, meeting tightest emissions regulations

Seaspan Shipyards, Canada’s long-term shipbuilding partner for the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and Royal Canadian Navy, has awarded ABB a contract to deliver an integrated propulsion system for the first of the CCG’s new-generation polar class icebreakers.

The vessel is expected to be one of the world’s largest and most powerful diesel-electric icebreaker when it enters service in 2030, with ABB supplying vessel systems complying with IACS Polar Class 2 requirements for year-round operations in moderate multi-year ice conditions. The vessel will have 34MW of propulsive power provided by a single shaftline and twin Azipod® units. In addition to increasing efficiency and reliability, Azipod® propulsors offer improved maneuverability in icy waters.

This major marine systems order marks a significant milestone for ABB in Canada, with ABB assuming the role of single system integrator responsible for the engineering, delivery and commissioning of the comprehensive propulsion package.

Upon delivery, the vessel will join a reference list of 150 other icebreaking or icegoing vessels outfitted with ABB’s propulsion technology. As the first vessel of its kind to be built in Canada in over 60 years, it will set a performance benchmark for the new generation of domestically built coast guard icebreakers.

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At an event today in St. John’s, Genoa Design International of Newfoundland and Labrador and Seaspan Shipyards of British Columbia, signed a contract related to the construction of Canada’s new Polar Icebreaker. The deal will see Genoa provide 3D modeling and design technology services for the program, resulting in up to 100 employees working on the project for the next several years.

Genoa Design has played a critical role on several other vessels already built or underway at Seaspan Shipyards under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). Genoa’s expertise in digital ship models along with their experience as a global leader in cold-ocean technology and ice-prone environment projects makes for an ideal coast-to-coast partnership for the Icebreaker.

As the future flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard’s icebreaking fleet, the Polar Icebreaker will weigh in at close to 28,000 tonnes, will be 158 metres long and be able to accommodate up to 100 personnel. Innovations in design and construction will ensure the yet to be named vessel will have the capability to operate further north and for longer periods than any current icebreaker in the country’s fleet. Production of the ship is expected to begin in late 2024.

The Polar Icebreaker will be an incredibly complex ship, designed to operate in the Arctic’s ice-covered waters and will play a critical role in enabling the Canadian Coast Guard to transit and protect more than 162,000 km of Arctic coastline. The capabilities will help sustain a year-round presence in Canada’s North in support of Indigenous Peoples and other northern communities, Arctic sovereignty, high-Arctic science (including climate change research), and the ability to respond to major maritime emergencies including search and rescue.

The Polar Icebreaker is part of Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy. Announced in 2010, the initiative’s purpose is to renew Canada's federal fleet of combat and non-combat vessels while providing significant economic benefits to Canadians and rebuilding our country’s shipbuilding industry.

Working together on the Polar Icebreaker continues the strong relationship between Genoa and Seaspan. Since the launch of the NSS, the companies have worked together on two Joint Support Ships for the Royal Canadian Navy, the CCGS John Cabot (an Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel) and an Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel, both for the Canadian Coast Guard.

About Genoa Design International

Genoa Design has been providing detail design and 3D modeling services in Canada and the United States since 1995. With 200 employees spread between Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Albert, British Columbia, and Louisiana, the company plays crucial roles on Coast Guard and Navy projects in North America. As a tier-1 supplier under the National Shipbuilding Strategy, Genoa has become an industry leader and will continue to work to strengthen the marine sector in its home province and abroad.

About Seaspan Shipyards

Seaspan Shipyards is a leader in Canada’s shipbuilding and ship repair industry with modern facilities and a dedicated workforce in North Vancouver and Victoria, Seaspan Shipyards has proven itself to be a trusted partner on a range of complex projects for both government and the private sector. Seaspan Shipyards is proud to be one of Canada’s chosen shipbuilding partners under the National Shipbuilding Strategy and is delivering state-of-the-art ships in Canada for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy. Over the past 12 years, Seaspan has contributed $5.7 billion to Canada’s GDP and has generated 7,330 annual jobs annually and is forecasted to contribute an additional $20.7 billion to GDP while sustaining or creating about 11,000 jobs annually through 2035. 

Quick Facts About the Polar Icebreaker

• With a displacement of 27,876 tonnes, the Polar Icebreaker will be 158 metres long and 28 metres wide, and able to accommodate up to 100 personnel. It will be able to operate farther north, in more difficult ice conditions and for longer periods than any icebreaker in Canada to date.

• The primary missions of the Polar Icebreaker include search and rescue, Arctic science, environmental response, Northern resupply, and protecting Canada’s sovereignty.

• Highlights of key design features, include:
  • IACS Polar Class 2 (PC2) Heavy Icebreaker
  • More than 40MW of installed power
  • Ice-classed azimuthing propulsion system
  • Complex, multi-role mission capability
  • Scientific Laboratories
  • Moon Pool (to allow for safe deployment of equipment from within the ship)
  • Helicopter flight deck and hangar
  • Vehicle Garage and future Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) capability

Quotes

“This is a significant day for Genoa of course, but also for Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada as a whole. Genoa’s contribution to the Polar Icebreaker and the continued faith in the company’s capabilities that Seaspan has shown demonstrate the considerable benefits of the National Shipbuilding Strategy. It also shows that companies in this province can successfully collaborate widely regardless of geography or time zone. This new project will provide exciting work to our highly skilled employees for years to come and the knowledge gained will serve Genoa well as we look to future opportunities.”

- Gina Pecore, CEO, Genoa Design International

“Through the National Shipbuilding Strategy, Seaspan is helping to transform Canada’s shipbuilding and marine industries through innovation, partnerships and developing world-class talent. Our relationship with Genoa goes back many years and we are excited to have them continue to partner with us as we design and build the first heavy Polar Icebreaker in Canada in more than 60 years. Over the next 25 years, Seaspan plans to deliver 19 large, complex vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy and with the help of a sustainable, strategic industry stretching from coast to coast.”

- Leo Martin, Senior Vice President, Programs, Seaspan Shipyards

“The Canadian Coast Guard eagerly awaits the design and construction of the polar icebreakers, which will extend our on-water operations and ensure the continuous delivery of critical services in the high Arctic. This includes search and rescue, environmental and humanitarian response, as well as playing a key role in supporting ocean science. Congratulations to Seaspan Shipyards and Genoa Design International on striking this new partnership.”

- Mario Pelletier, Commissioner, Canadian Coast Guard

Seaspan Shipyards on Tuesday cut steel to build a “prototype block” marking a critical step in the Vancouver, B.C. shipyard’s Polar Icebreaker Program.

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This season, seven icebreakers were deployed to support community resupply and deliver key services such as icebreaking, search and rescue, maintaining aids to navigation, responding to marine pollution incidents and hazards, and supporting scientific research. The CCGS Amundsen was the first vessel deployed for the season on June 14, 2024, from Quebec City, QC, and the CCGS Des Groseilliers was the last vessel to return from the Arctic on December 8, 2024.

In Rankin Inlet, NU, the Arctic Marine Response Station was open from June 21 to October 22, 2024, and responded to eight search and rescue incidents. Aside from this essential service, the all-Indigenous team also performed four training exercises and patrolled over 737 nautical miles around the areas of Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet, and Whale Cove, NU.

In August, the Canadian Coast Guard welcomed the United States Coast Guard's (USCG) District 17 Rear Admiral Megan Dean aboard the CCGS Pierre Radisson in Resolute Bay, NU, and the CCGS Amundsen in Frobisher Bay, NU. From August 24 to 26, 2024, the Canadian Coast Guard joined the United States Navy, USCG, and the Royal Danish Navy for Operation NANOOK 2024, which is a yearly maritime exercise led by the Canadian Armed Forces to enhance surveillance and collective responsiveness in the Arctic. These continued partnerships play an important role in keeping northern waters safe and reinforces Canada's long-standing sovereignty in the North.

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Officials representing the governments of the United States, Canada, and Finland today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Washington to begin working together to develop world-class Arctic and polar icebreakers through the exchange of knowledge, information, and resources in each of the countries.

The groundbreaking MOU builds off the launch of the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort (ICE) Pact by Prime Minister Trudeau, President Stubb, and President Biden concluded on the margins of the NATO Washington Summit last July.

Posing their signatures on the document were Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada’s Minister of Public Services and Procurement; Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and Wille Rydman, Finland’s Minister of Economic Affairs.

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• The acquisition of 2 Polar Icebreakers is estimated to cost $8.5 billion. This cost includes all relevant components of the Development and Acquisition phases of the project.

• The first Polar Icebreaker is expected to be delivered in 2030-2031, and the second in 2032-2033. This represents a 1 and 2 year delay for the first and second vessels, respectively, relative to prior PBO work on this Project in 2021.

• A one-year delay to both vessels is estimated to cost an additional $260 million while a two-year delay is estimated to cost an additional $530 million.

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Eighty years ago, if you were to look down the shoreline from where Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards currently sit, you would have seen a flurry of non-stop activity by shipbuilders on the North Shore who were kept busy throughout the war effort to replenish the Allied fleet of merchant ships — critical for carrying supplies and equipment to the theatres of war in Europe and Asia. Fast forward to today, and supply ships for the Armed Forces are once again being built in North Vancouver at Vancouver Shipyards.

Shipbuilding in North Vancouver

Shipyards on the North Shore produced close to half of Canada’s total output of vessels during wartime and helped elevate the industrial waterfront into one known for its shipbuilding prowess. Today, the maritime influence on the region remains. Where Victory Ships were once being built during WWII, now stands a bustling community of restaurants, retail shops and condos: an area known as “The Shipyards”, where remnants and memorabilia of the wartime shipbuilding boom have been preserved for today’s generations to see and appreciate. Nestled in alongside this new community, is Seaspan’s Vancouver Drydock, where over 200 people perform ship repair and maintenance on a variety of Canadian Coast Guard and commercial vessels.

For a period of time, shipbuilding in British Columbia, and elsewhere across the country, had been forgotten. A country with an abundance of natural resources and industrial capabilities is no stranger to boom & bust cycles – and shipbuilding was no different. Since the 1990s, construction of large vessels in Canada was essentially non-existent. And, just as importantly, gone with it was all of the accompanying knowledge, expertise, and hands-on skills.

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The Canadian Coast Guard has officially welcomed the medium icebreaker CCGS Vincent Massey to its fleet at a dedication to service ceremony in Quebec City.

The ship is the third of three medium icebreakers that Canada purchased secondhand from the commercial market in 2018.

The CCGS Vincent Massey joins its sister ships, the CCGS Jean Goodwill and CCGS Captain Molly Kool, in providing icebreaking services in Eastern Canada’s waterways, including the St. Lawrence River and Gulf and the Atlantic region. The vessel is also equipped to support environmental response and search and rescue operations.

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More than a decade of delay and inaction has left the ships, planes and satellites that Canada relies on to monitor its rapidly opening Arctic on track to be retired before they can be replaced, the auditor general says.

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The Government of Canada will move forward with the construction of two Polar icebreakers under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). 

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Vard Marine and ILS Ship Design & Engineering have announced a collaborative teaming agreement to develop design solutions for the global icebreaker market, one of which will be the development and implementation of ILS’ patented Detachable IceBreaking Bow (DIBB).

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