Canada's Seaspan Shipyards has entered into an agreement with Newfoundland-based Genoa Design International to continue providing design expertise on the Canadian Coast Guard’s new heavy polar icebreaker.
Under the agreement, Genoa will provide design guidance, growing its local workforce to more than 100 naval architecture and marine systems designers.
Work will continue into the vessel’s build phase, which is already underway at Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards.
Measuring 158 metres long and 28 metres wide, Seaspan’s polar icebreaker is designed to operate self-sufficiently in the high-Arctic year-round, on more than 162,000 kilometres of Arctic coastline.
Genoa said the capabilities of the 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.
The vessel will be able to accommodate up to 100 personnel and operate farther north, in more difficult ice conditions and for longer periods than any icebreaker in Canada to date.
The icebreaker will be the seventh vessel designed and built by Seaspan under the Canadian Government's National Shipbuilding Strategy. It will also be the fifth Polar Class vessel to be built for the Canadian Coast Guard.
