Finland, Canada & U.S. to build icebreakers for Arctic

On Thursday, July 11, Finland, Canada & U.S. entered into a trilateral pact to build icebreakers for the Arctic region, the joint statement on the White House website says. 

The partnership was agreed on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, where 32 allies said in their joint statement that Russia “remains the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security.”

 “As the first initiative under ICE Pact (the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort), we will commit to a collaborative effort to continue building best-in-class Arctic and polar icebreakers and other Arctic and polar capabilities in each of our respective countries by sharing expertise, information, and capabilities…, - the official statement says, - This partnership will strengthen the shipbuilding industries in each nation with the goal of creating good-paying jobs in shipyards, marine equipment manufacturers, and many other related services across all three countries”.

Senior U.S. officials who spoke to reporters about the deal said they anticipate allies will want to build between 70 and 90 icebreakers in the coming years and they want domestic shipyards to gain from that production, Canadian CTV news reports.

As climate change intensifies, experts suggest new shipping routes will be opening up in the coming decades and the Arctic Ocean could be the primary transit route between Europe and Asia. 

The Icebreaker Collaboration Effort signified a big change for Finland - before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia was the major customer for Finnish shipyards.

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For example, in January 2022 Finnish shipbuilders contracted a powerful icebreaker for the Russian Arctic - designed by Aker Arctic and built by the Helsinki Shipyard on a contract with the Russian mining and metallurgy company Nornickel. It was the most powerful icebreaker ever built in Finland.

But after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, European Union sanctions were imposed. Cooperation between Finland and Russia has been suspended. 

Russia has by far the largest icebreaker fleet in the world - according to its Ministry of Transport, Russia currently has 41 icebreakers, 7 of which are nuclear-powered.