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    Home » U.S. shipyard joins with Canadian, Finnish firms in bid to build icebreakers
    Arctic

    U.S. shipyard joins with Canadian, Finnish firms in bid to build icebreakers

    The WatchBy The WatchAugust 29, 2025Updated:September 2, 2025No Comments3 Mins Read
    Bollinger Shipyards provided this illustration of what its polar icebreaker could look like. BOLLINGER SHIPYARDS
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    Shipbuilders from Canada, Finland and the United States have teamed up in a bid to build icebreaking vessels for the U.S. Coast Guard. Bollinger Shipyards of Louisiana, Rauma Marine Constructions in Finland, Seaspan Shipyards in Canada, and the Finnish design and engineering company Aker Arctic have formed a partnership to deliver “the lowest-risk, fastest delivery solution” for expanding U.S. Arctic maritime capabilities, a news release said.

    A few weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump signed his “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law on July 4, 2025, providing $3.5 billion for construction of three medium icebreakers called Arctic security cutters, the four companies announced their consortium to build those icebreakers. “In line with President Trump’s directive to grow and modernize America’s icebreaking fleet, Bollinger is proud to lead this partnership with a focus on speed, quality, certainty and results,” said Ben Bordelon, president and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards.

    The new law also will provide $4.3 billion for construction of two more heavy icebreakers, called polar security cutters. Bollinger Shipyards is building the first polar security cutter now; construction of the next two is likely to occur in the 2030s. An additional $186 million was earmarked for 10 light and medium icebreaking vessels.

    In April 2025, the Coast Guard filed a request for information laying out the parameters for an arctic security cutter: the ability to break through nearly 1 meter of ice at a continuous speed of 3 knots; a range of 6,500 nautical miles at 12 knots; endurance of 60 days. Each vessel would be up to about 110 meters long and up to 24 meters wide. The Coast Guard sought a design capable of being built and launched within 36 months of a contract award date.

    The 36-month threshold would be tough for U.S. shipyards to do on their own. But shipyards in Finland routinely build and deliver icebreaking vessels in that time frame. Bollinger’s U.S.-Canada-Finland partnership “represents a deliberate effort to strengthen the U.S. industrial base, expand America’s shipbuilding capacity, and equip American workers with the skills to lead in a new era of strategic competition through the transfer of knowledge, technology, and design expertise needed to build the next generation of icebreakers right here in the United States,” a company news release said.

    The consortium’s MPI (multipurpose icebreaker) design, developed by Seaspan and Aker Arctic, exceeds all Coast Guard requirements, the companies said. It can break through more than 1.2 meters of ice, travel 12,000 nautical miles and operate for over 60 days. The partners said design elements shared with Canadian vessels can enhance interoperability and cut maintenance costs and time.

    “Speculative designs can derail programs, delay delivery, and devastate shipyards. The Seaspan-Aker MPI design is the most mature, construction-ready design available, and we’re bringing proven capability, hard-earned lessons, and unmatched U.S. capacity to get it built,” said Bordelon, Bollinger’s president. “With Bollinger’s access to more than 4,000 skilled workers and over 30 facilities across the country, no one is better positioned to move fast and deliver the Arctic security cutter.”

    In addition to the Bollinger consortium, Davie Shipbuilding of Canada plans to bid on the arctic security cutter contract. Davie acquired Finnish Helsinki Shipyard in 2023 and announced plans in June 2025 to buy assets along the Texas Gulf Coast.

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