Nearly $9 billion has been allocated for several new polar icebreakers in the July 2025 budget bill under consideration in Congress. The icebreakers are needed to maintain security and freedom of navigation in the Arctic. REUTERS
U.S. President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill earmarks more than $8.6 billion to increase the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker fleet in the Arctic, where Washington hopes to counter rising Russian and Chinese presence. The funding includes $4.3 billion for up to three new heavy Coast Guard Polar Security Cutters, $3.5 billion for medium Arctic Security Cutters and $816 million for procurement of additional light and medium icebreaking cutters.
Louisiana-based shipbuilders Bollinger Shipyards and Edison Chouest Offshore in May announced a partnership called United Shipbuilding Alliance (USA) to manufacture icebreakers to meet “urgent Arctic operational needs.” USA will bid to build icebreakers for the Arctic Security Cutter program, a Bollinger spokesperson said. The Coast Guard recently gave Bollinger the green light to begin full construction of the first ship in the Polar Security Cutter Program at its Pascagoula, Mississippi, facility.
Other potential icebreaker builders include Quebec-based Davie Shipbuilding, which in June announced plans to buy Gulf Copper & Manufacturing’s shipbuilding assets in Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas. Shipyards in Canada or Finland also could provide the ships, but that would require a presidential waiver for the U.S. Coast Guard to buy ships from a foreign yard, U.S. Naval Institute News said.
The Coast Guard recently took possession of its first polar icebreaker in 25 years. Built by Edison Chouest Offshore’s North American Shipbuilding in 2012, the modified Coast Guard cutter Storis set sail in June. Its home port will be Juneau, Alaska. The polar fleet also includes the 399-foot heavy icebreaker Polar Star and the 420-foot medium icebreaker Healy, according to its website.