Seaspan Shipyards cut steel on the Canadian Coast Guard’s (CCG) new heavy polar icebreaker, marking the first time a heavy polar icebreaker has been built in Canada in more than 60 years.
Measuring 158 metres long and 28 metres in beam, Seaspan’s polar icebreaker was designed to operate self-sufficiently in the high-Arctic year-round, on more than 162,000 kilometres of Arctic coastline.
The icebreaker will support Arctic science and northern communities, and will be able to respond to major maritime emergencies including search and rescue.
It will accommodate up to 100 personnel, and will be able to operate farther north, in more difficult ice conditions and for longer periods than any icebreaker in Canada to date.
This will be the seventh vessel designed and built by Seaspan under Canada's national shipbuilding strategy. It will 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.