Canada has begun building its first heavy icebreaker in over 50 years, the CCGS Arpatuuq, with steel-cutting underway in Finland and a second vessel, the CCGS Imnaryuaq, under construction in Vancouver, reports Bloomberg. These ships are part of a significant C$3.3 billion investment to modernize Canada’s Arctic fleet amid rising geopolitical tensions and increased accessibility due to climate change. As Arctic ice melts, global powers like Russia, China, and the U.S. are racing to expand their icebreaker fleets to secure shipping routes, resources, and military presence in the region. Canada, partnering with Finland and the US through the 2024 Ice Pact, aims to bolster its sovereignty, research capabilities, and NATO contributions by adding advanced, year-round polar vessels to its fleet. They write:
At a shipyard in Finland last month, workers cut the first steel for a new icebreaker ship. Over the next three years, about 10,000 tons of the metal will go into the hull before the vessel is carried across the ocean to Quebec for completion.
The CCGS Arpatuuq, expected to launch in 2030, will be the first heavy icebreaker built — at least partly — in Canada in more than half a century. The C$3.3 billion ($2.4 billion) ship will be 139 meters (about 450 feet) long, with a helipad, hangar and room for 100 crew members. “Moon pools” located at midship will provide direct access to the Arctic Ocean for polar research and, potentially, military surveillance.
Workers press a button to start the steel-cutting process for a new Canadian icebreaker at Helsinki Shipyard on Aug. 20.Photographer: Alessandro Rampazzo/Bloomberg
A second heavy icebreaker, the CCGS Imnaryuaq (both are named for Inuit locations) is already under construction at Vancouver’s Seaspan Shipyards. […]Trump has his own icebreaker ambitions, and they’re not modest. To the current US fleet of three icebreakers, he wants to add 48; the sweeping tax bill that passed into law this year earmarked $8.6 billion to get started. It’s enough to fund construction of 17 vessels, according to the US Coast Guard. […]
It’s not clear yet how tensions between Canada and the US could affect future deals. Defense spending is one point of leverage in ongoing trade talks. Shipbuilders project enough global demand to keep everyone busy for years to come, Seaspan’s Chief Executive Officer John McCarthy said in an interview earlier this year. “We even got a call from India,” he said, “around a potential icebreaker to go down to the South Pole.”
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