Trilateral partnership to build US Coast Guard's future icebreakers

US-based Bollinger Shipyards, Canada's Seaspan Shipyards, and Finland's Rauma Marine Constructions and Aker Arctic have formed a partnership that will build a new class of polar icebreakers for the US Coast Guard.

Bollinger said the partnership represents, "a deliberate effort to strengthen the US 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 in the United States."

Delivery of the first of the new "Arctic security cutters" (ASCs) is scheduled to take place within 36 months of the contract award. Bollinger will serve as the lead contractor in the partnership.

A multi-purpose icebreaker (MPI) design developed jointly by Seaspan and Aker Arctic has been selected to serve as the basis for the ASCs. Bollinger said the MPI is the optimal design to meet US Coast Guard requirements as it exceeds all ASC requirements and supports all eleven of the vessels' statutory missions.

The MPI has been designed to be capable of breaking through four feet (1.2 metres) of ice, travelling 12,000 nautical miles, and operating for over 60 days. Bollinger said the design is purpose-built to support the evolving mission needs of the US Coast Guard in the harshest conditions.

The ASCs will serve as medium-displacement vessels to complement the coast guard's polar security cutters (PSCs). The ASCs will be used primarily for Arctic operations while the heavier PSCs will be capable of both Arctic and Antarctic operations.