Icebreaker

April 3, 2025 – North Vancouver, BC – Today, Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) cut steel on the Canadian Coast Guard’s (CCG) new heavy polar icebreaker, signifying the start of construction on one of the most advanced conventional polar icebreakers ever to be built. This marks the first time a heavy polar icebreaker has been built in Canada in more than 60 years, and it will play a critical role in protecting our sovereignty for decades to come.

Measuring 158 metres long and 28 metres wide, Seaspan’s polar icebreaker will be incredibly complex, designed to operate self-sufficiently in the high-Arctic year-round. It will play a critical role in enabling the Canadian Coast Guard to transit and operate on more than 162,000 km of Arctic coastline. The capabilities of this Polar Class 2 icebreaker will help sustain a 12-month presence in Canada’s North in support of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty, high-Arctic science (including climate change research), Indigenous Peoples and other northern communities, and the ability to respond to major maritime emergencies including search and rescue. It will be able to accommodate up to 100 personnel, and, as one of the only Polar Class 2 vessels in the world, will be able to operate farther north, in more difficult ice conditions and for longer periods than any icebreaker in Canada to date.

This built-in-Canada ship will be the seventh vessel designed and built by Seaspan under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). It will also be the fifth Polar Class vessel to be built for the CCG, and one of up to 21 icebreaking vessels overall that Seaspan is constructing.

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LÉVIS, Québec – The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant, announced this past Saturday, that the Government of Canada has awarded a $3.25-billion contract (before tax) to Chantier Davie Canada Inc. (CDCI) for the construction of 1 of the Canadian Coast Guard’s (CCG) future polar icebreakers under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). This marks a significant milestone in strengthening Canada’s Arctic sovereignty and security. 

Through this agreement, Davie will deliver its production-ready heavy icebreaker design called the Polar Max to Canada by 2030. To support the rapid delivery of the ship, Davie will capitalize on the expertise of Helsinki Shipyard, which was acquired by Davie in 2023 with the support of the Québec government. Helsinki Shipyard has built over 50% of all the world’s icebreakers.

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The Department of Homeland Security has approved full production of the first U.S. Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter (PSC). The Service also received approval for low-rate initial production of the Waterways Commerce Cutter (WCC).

The long-delayed project entails the replacement of the Polar Star, the sole remaining U.S. heavy icebreaker.  It facilitates the ability of shipbuilder Bollinger to ramp up hiring, allowing it to deliver the ship as quickly as possible. 

The PSC is the first heavy polar icebreaker to be built in the U.S. in nearly five decades. The Coast Guard is the sole federal agency responsible for icebreaking. Accordingly, the Service must replace, modernize, and grow its fleet of icebreakers to assure U.S. access and sovereignty in the polar regions. The U.S. Coast Guard is committed to working with the Administration and Congress to fulfill the President’s direction on icebreaker acquisition.

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Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, La., on Thursday announced it has received approval from the U.S. Coast Guard to begin full production activities on the U.S. Coast Guard polar security cutter (PSC) program.

The news follows Bollinger’s recent award of a $951.6 million fixed-price-incentive-firm target contract modification, advancing the detail design and construction phase of the PSC program.

“Today’s announcement is a historic achievement not only for Bollinger Shipyards but also for American shipbuilding,” said Ben Bordelon, president and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards. “Securing the green light for full production underscores the confidence the U.S. government places in Bollinger to deliver the nation’s first heavy polar icebreaker in nearly 50 years. Our team at Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding has worked tirelessly to put the PSC program on a solid path forward, ensuring this vital national security asset will be built by American hands.”

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The U.S. Coast Guard is asking industry for options to buy or build another off-the-shelf icebreaker design similar in size to the Aiviq (USCGC Storis) or Canada's Harry DeWolf-class. 

On April 11, the Coast Guard published a request for information (RFI) seeking "existing vessels or production ready vessel designs" for a small icebreaker class with specific requirements:

- At most 360 feet in length, 78-foot beam and 23 feet of draft
- Icebreaking capability of three feet thick at three knots 
- Range of 6,500 nautical miles 
- Endurance of 60 days
- Flight deck and hangar for one helicopter 

The type of vessel sought appears to align well with Canada's Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS), or Harry DeWolf-class, which meets all of these specifications. A vessel of this class would be smaller and less capable than the Coast Guard's medium icebreaker, USCGC Healy, or the service's long-delayed Polar Security Cutter (PSC). 

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The recently-signed ICE Pact, focused on the development of icebreakers, represents a unique opportunity to revitalize American shipbuilding, a new report by the Wilson Center, a think tank, finds. It could function as a test-bed for shipbuilding and policy innovation. 

“If successful, ICE Pact will serve as a model for how government procurement programs for military vessels can act as an important tool of industrial policy to help U.S. shipyards sell vessels to a wider array of customers,” the report concludes.

U.S. shipyards face a formidable challenge to revitalize American shipbuilding and seapower in a world increasingly dominated by Chinese shipbuilders. Shipyards in China accounted for 75 percent of new commercial ship orders in 2024.

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According to Canadian shipbuilder Seaspan, in charge of building two new heavy polar icebreakers for the country’s Coast Guard, the Canadian naval industry already possesses the requisite know-how for Trump’s plan.

“40 icebreakers are fantastic, but that is pretty aggressive – I don’t want to go against what Mr. Trump said, but I would say that the U.S. shipbuilding industry capability is pretty stressed and busy right now. … I think it’s fair to say that it is not [currently] capable of doing that,” David Hargreaves, senior vice president of business development at Seaspan, told Defense News.

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In an Open Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Quebec Premier François Legault has urged the Canadian government to accelerate the purchase of “several” new polar icebreakers to defend Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic amid rising Russian and Chinese ambitions and to appease certain concerns expressed by US President Donald Trump. It would also demonstrate to NATO allies that Canada was playing a crucial role in preserving Arctic security while defending its territory in the Arctic and the North West Passage.

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If shipping boss Niels Clemensen were to offer any advice to Donald Trump or anyone else trying to get a foothold in Greenland, it would be this: “Come up here and see what you are actually dealing with.”

Sitting on the top floor of his beamed office in Nuuk harbour, where snow is being flung around by strong winds in the mid-morning darkness outside and shards of ice pass by in the fast-flowing water, the chief executive of Greenland’s only shipping company, Royal Arctic Line, says: “What you normally see as easy [setting up operations] in the US or Europe is not the same up here.” As well as the cold, ice and extremely rough seas, the world’s biggest island does not have a big road network or trains, meaning everything has to be transported either by sea or air. “I’m not saying that it’s not possible. But it’s going to cost a lot of money.”

With the potential to slash shipping times between Europe and Asia by thousands of miles – or as much as two weeks – the opening up of the Northwest Passage as the Arctic ice melts is viewed by some as an upside of the climate crisis and one of the main reasons Trump has taken such an interest in Greenland...

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The United States plans to order 40 icebreakers, according to US President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has announced plans to order 40 icebreakers to supplement the country’s current fleet, with the news reported by US outlet Forbes, among others.

The country’s current fleet is aging and ready for replacement, according to the financial magazine.

Trump’s announcement came during a visit he made to North Carolina on Tuesday. During his first term, Trump had already proposed commissioning the construction of new icebreakers for the United States.

Finland naturally perked up at the ice-crushing news since Finnish companies have designed and built the majority of the world’s icebreakers.

Posting on messaging platform X, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) said she had spoken with Marco Rubio, America’s new Secretary of State. The two discussed possible cooperation between Finland and the US regarding icebreakers, according to Valtonen.

Forbes meanwhile reports two American icebreakers recently struggled to free a Canadian transport ship stuck outside of Buffalo, New York. The Canadian Coast Guard eventually managed to free the vessel.

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In a speech last week in North Carolina, President Donald Trump suggested that the U.S. would soon be ordering 40 big icebreakers for the Coast Guard, and that Canada wants in on the deal. 

Asked about U.S. trade relations with Britain, Trump gave his thoughts on why Canada should become the 51st U.S. state. The U.S. is losing too much money to Canada on trade deficits, he said, and joining the U.S. would mean lower taxes (and no U.S. tariffs) for Canadians.

"Why are we paying all of that money to Canada when, you know, we — we could use it ourselves, right? You know, we ordered — we’re going to order about 40 Coast Guard big icebreakers. Big ones. And all of a sudden, Canada wants a piece of the deal. I say, 'Why are we doing that?'" Trump said. "I mean, I like doing that if they’re a state, but I don’t like doing that if they’re a nation. . . . I would love to see Canada be the 51st state."

The U.S. Coast Guard currently has funds from Congress for a planned three-vessel order for the Polar Security Cutter program, built by Bollinger. The first was approved in late December after years of delay, and the program faces cost overruns. The service's last icebreaker study suggested a need for at least three more medium icebreakers in addition to the current program of record, and its regional icebreaker fleet for the Great Lakes is also advancing in age. 

At present, the service's seagoing fleet has one heavy icebreaker and one medium icebreaker - both aging - and one "bridging strategy" icebreaker, a commercial conversion that will fill gaps until delivery of the first Polar Security Cutter. 

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MILAN — An agreement between Finland, Canada, and the United States to jointly build icebreaker ships may hold the key to deeper cooperation between the Arctic nations, as Washington has set out to boost its fleet against Russian and Chinese efforts to ramp up their own.

The Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE Pact, was signed in July 2024 on the occasion of NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington. It aims to combine the three nations’ knowledge, resources, and expertise about the Arctic region in general and polar icebreaker construction in particular.

The core ambition of the agreement is to collectively build best-in-class ice boats capable of year-round operations in Arctic waters, plowing pathways for maritime traffic in a region being transformed by climate change. Teaming up in a cluster of countries, the idea goes, will lead to better prices and speedier deliveries for the governments involved.

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Tech stocks are selling off sharply on Monday, triggered by concerns that China’s just-released DeepSeek AI assistant may steal the thunder from U.S.-based platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Before this week, however, markets have been responding with gusto since November’s presidential election, especially in a few key — and perhaps expected — industries.

The biggest winner so far was the automobile industry, led by Tesla, up an impressive 70% since Election Day as of Friday. General Motors, while not quite as flashy, was up about 5%. Despite President Donald Trump’s rollback of Joe Biden-era electric vehicle mandates, Tesla has continued to command investor confidence, possibly due to Elon Musk’s close ties to the president.

Electricity producers also saw a boost, driven by the AI boom. Data centers, which currently consume 1% to 2% of global power, could grow to 3% to 4% by the end of the decade, according to Goldman Sachs...

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Government and port leaders saluted Ponant's Le Commandant Charcot at the Port of Québec as the ship completed Canada's first international winter cruise.

'Hats off to Capt. Patrick Marchesseau for sailing the icy waters of the St. Lawrence, a world first that will go down in history,' Québec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx said.

Blizzards and pack ice

Under Marchesseau's command, Le Commandant Charcot traveled 1,131 nautical miles through blizzards, icy waters and pack ice from the French outpost of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon near Newfoundland to Québec's Magdalen Islands, Gaspé, Sept-Îles and La Baie (in Saguenay Fjord) before arriving to a hero's welcome in Québec City.

The voyage showcased the Polar Class 2 ship's advanced icebreaking capabilities and pioneering spirit while treating 157 intrepid travelers to extraordinary winter adventures. They took part in snowshoeing, hiking, ice fishing, snowmobiling, skating, gastronomy and experiencing aboriginal traditions in close encounters with Mi'kmaq and Innu communities.

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Here is the intro to the article:  Members, here is an excellent report on the Ice Pact compliments of The North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN) .  Entitled “Ice Pact – Unpacked”, the report summarizes the Ice Pact meeting held in Ottawa on December 9, 2024.  Organized by the Canadian Maritime Security Network (CMSN) and the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN), the one-day event sought to facilitate an exchange of expertise to inform the process by which the governments will build upon the current statement of intent and flesh out what the ICE Pact can and should look like as it is translated into practice. The resulting discussion offered a range of insights, touching on how to build the requisite economies of scale, as well as the specific kinds and elements of cooperation needed to visualize the end state of this cooperation including future opportunities and potential hurdles that could hinder the ICEPact’s operationalization.

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