An industry team comprising Bollinger Shipyards, Rauma Shipyard, Seaspan Shipyards and Aker Arctic have formed a partnership to deliver the Arctic Security Cutter (ASC) for the US Coast Guard (USCG).
Bollinger says the partnership is “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 US”. Rauma Shipyards president Mika Nieminen says: “We are prepared to begin construction immediately, leveraging a mature design and deep experience in building technically complex vessels for operation in severe winter conditions.”
Bollinger is the largest privately owned shipbuilder in the US and is building the first heavy icebreaker in the US in 50 years. It has built nearly 200 vessels for the USCG. Rauma is known globally as an ice-class shipyard. Seaspan Shipyards is the Canadian subsidiary of US-based Washington Companies and is currently delivering the largest orderbook of ice-capable vessels in the world. Aker Arctic developed most of icebreaking designs currently in operation.
Bollinger says the MPI design meets USCG requirements, exceeds all ASC requirements and supports all 11 statutory missions assigned to the vessel. With the ability to break 1.2m of ice, the vessel has a range of 12,000nm and can operate for more than 60 days. The consortium says all other designs proposed for the ASC would require significant investment and corresponding ramp-up time, creating risk for schedule, cost and delivery delay.
The partnership leverages the trilateral ‘ICE Pact’ framework between the US, Canada and Finland to answer President Trump’s call to rapidly build a new US icebreaking fleet, with delivery of the first vessel within 36 months of award.
