Four shipyards across ICE Pact nations to jointly pursue US Arctic Security Cutter program

WASHINGTON — Four shipbuilders from across the United States, Canada and Finland today announced they are forming a “strategic partnership” to pursue a key major shipbuilding program for the US Coast Guard dubbed the Arctic Security Cutter.

The shipyards include Bollinger of Louisiana; Seaspan, located in North Vancouver, and Victoria, Canada; and the Finnish firms Rauma Shipyards and Aker Arctic. The Arctic Security Cutter is a medium-sized icebreaker that will operate in parallel with the Coast Guard’s largest class of ships, the new Polar Security Cutter.

“Together, the four companies represent the world’s premier icebreaker shipbuilding companies,” the shipbuilders said in a joint statement. “The strategic partnership leverages the trilateral ICE Pact framework between the United States, Canada and Finland to answer President [Donald] Trump’s call to rapidly grow a modernized U.S. icebreaking fleet, with delivery of the first vessel within 36 months of award, and ensures the ASC program is anchored in American shipbuilding and transitions quickly to full U.S. production, consistent with President Trump’s ‘America First’ priority.”

The Coast Guard earlier this year sought input from both American and international shipbuilders on how it could go about quickly designing and producing the new class of ship and has reportedly been in discussions with numerous companies.

The companies’ proposed ship is called the “Seaspan-Aker Multi-Purpose Icebreaker,” which the shipbuilders claim meets all the Arctic Security Cutter’s requirements.

“With the ability to break four feet of ice, travel 12,000 nautical miles, and operate for over 60 days, the design is purpose-built to support the evolving mission needs of the U.S. Coast Guard in the harshest conditions,” according to the statement. “Additionally, its shared multi-mission design with the Canadian Coast Guard fleet will create the largest class of icebreaking capability in the world, optimizing interoperability and maintenance support.”

Bollinger and Seaspan already hold contracts to build separate icebreakers for their respective countries. Meanwhile, Rauma Shipyards and Aker Arctic of Finland are among their country’s top ship designers and builders, in a nation already globally renowned for its icebreaker production.

“Speculative designs can derail programs, delay delivery and devastate shipyards. The Seaspan-Aker MPI design is the most mature, construction-ready design available, and we’re bringing proven capability, hard-earned lessons, and unmatched U.S. capacity to get it built,” said Ben Bordelon, president and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards.

Bollinger previously announced another partnership with Edison Chouest Offshore, a commercial vessel construction firm, and dubbed it the “United Shipbuilding Alliance.”

“This partnership is designed to offer a fully integrated solution to expedited design, construction, and delivery of next-generation icebreakers to directly meet the urgent Arctic operational needs,” according to a May statement. “USA recently responded to the U.S. Coast Guard’s April 11th Request for Information titled, ‘Arctic Security Cutter (ASC): Icebreaking Capable Vessels or Vessel Designs that are Ready for Construction,’ outlining the utilization of a commercial vessel for national security purposes acquisition process that spans 33 months from contract award to delivery.”