The U.S. Coast Guard’s quest to buy a new fleet of icebreakers has drawn interest from both domestic and international shipyards as the service collects responses to a request for proposal due this week.
Earlier this month, the Coast Guard put out a request for information from a wide group of shipbuilders seeking designs for the proposed Arctic Security Cutter program.
The new cutters need to break through three feet of ice and have a range of 6,500 nautical miles with an endurance of 60 days, according to the RFI. The medium icebreaker will work in parallel with the larger Polar Security Cutter program currently underway at Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding.
“The Coast Guard is conducting the widest survey of the market to inform future acquisition activities. The Coast Guard is committed to delivering critical assets to meet the needs in the U.S. Arctic as expeditiously as possible in compliance with federal law and direction from the legislative branch,” a service spokesperson told USNI News this week.
USNI News reported earlier that funding for the first three Arctic Security Cutters was included the budget reconciliation bill that cleared Congress in March.
Since the call for information went out, Finnish and Canadian shipyards have expressed interest for the work,
Rauma Marine Constructions is a possible shipyard to build the new cutters, according to local press reports. Likewise, Finland’s Helsinki Shipyard — owned by Canadian shipbuilder Davie — is also a candidate for the work, USNI News understands.
Finland is a world leader in icebreaking design, as well as construction, the Wilson Center said in a report.
“With an often-cited fact that 80% of the world’s icebreakers are designed by Finnish firms and more than 60% of icebreakers are built in Finnish shipyards. This hard-earned knowledge has made Finland a global authority in the icebreaker industry and it now seeks to share its know-how via the ICE Pact–a trilateral partnership between the United States, Canada, and Finland,” according to the report.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen to discuss Finland’s icebreaker-building capacity and other international security topics the day before the request from the Coast Guard went out.
Late last month, following a daylong meeting with the Finnish president, President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform the talks also included “the purchase and development of a large number of badly needed Icebreakers for the U.S., delivering Peace and International Security for our Countries, and the World.”
In November, the U.S., Canada and Finland signed a memorandum of understanding “to begin working together to develop world-class Arctic and polar icebreakers through the exchange of knowledge, information, and resources” in the three nations.
Helsinki Shipyard’s parent, Québec-based Davie, also could be in the running for the proposed Arctic Security Cutters. Davie announced last summer that it was looking to partner with U.S. firms to gain a foothold in the American market for shipbuilding and repair. The company also signed two contracts to expand its Québec yard to attract more orders for the specialized construction of ships such as icebreakers and ferries and upgrading Canada’s surface fleet.
The company is already one of several contractors building seven Canadian icebreakers to meet the requirements of Ottawa’s latest Arctic strategy.
Canada or Finland would need a presidential waiver for the U.S. Coast Guard to buy ships from a foreign yard, according to Title 14 of the U.S. Code.
