Vancouver shipyard inks deal to design U.S. icebreakers

A vessel is under construction at Seaspan Shipyards in North Vancouver, B.C., on October 10, 2024. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)

A Vancouver shipyard has struck a deal to provide the United States Coast Guard with the same icebreaker design it originally developed for the agency’s Canadian counterpart.

The agreement, announced this week by North Vancouver-based Seaspan Shipyards, includes the designs for up to six 100-metre-long icebreakers destined for Arctic operations. The company says the vessels can operate in up to 1.2 metres of ice and have a range of approximately 22,000 kilometres.

Seaspan has been developing the multi-purpose icebreaker designs under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy since 2020.

Canada already plans to acquire 16 of the vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard, with the first ship expected to be delivered in 2030 under a project budgeted at $14.2 billion.

Seaspan declined an interview on the agreement, but a company spokesperson described the deal as the first-ever export sale from a Canadian shipyard.

Spokesperson Abigail Saxton referred questions about the dollar-value of the agreement to the U.S. Coast Guard, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saxton said the purchase will “create many opportunities for collaboration” between Canadian and American coast guard sailors operating on the shared platform.

“The MPI (multi-purpose icebreaker) establishes a single class of versatile, multi-mission, medium icebreakers for both the United States and Canada and creates the largest single class of icebreakers in the world,” she said.

‘American maritime dominance’

The deal stems from a partnership with U.S.-based Bollinger Shipyards, which will construct two of the vessels, and Finland’s Rauma Marine Constructions Oy, which will build the remaining four.

The Finnish-built icebreakers are expected to be delivered to the U.S. in 2028, while delivery of the first American-built vessel is anticipated in 2029.

Seaspan says its ready-made design, developed in partnership with Finland, was completed “almost entirely in Canada,” allowing construction of the U.S. ships to begin immediately.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the new icebreakers will strengthen its ability to secure and defend Alaskan waters and respond to emergencies in the Arctic region.

“Our adversaries continue to look to grow their presence in the Arctic,” U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a statement announcing the purchase.

“Equipping the Coast Guard with Arctic security cutters will help reassert American maritime dominance there.”

The federal government signed a trilateral agreement with Finland and the U.S. last November to expand their icebreaker fleets and reinforce their collective Arctic sovereignty.