Seaspan, partners launch new alliance to work on US Coast Guard’s Arctic security cutter

July 30, 2025, by Fatima Bahtić

Seaspan Shipyards has partnered with shipbuilders Bollinger Shipyards and Rauma Shipyards, and engineering and design company Aker Arctic to deliver the ‘best solution’ for Arctic security cutters (ASC) for the US Coast Guard.

This strategic partnership represents 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.

The companies aim to answer President Trump’s call to rapidly grow a modernized US icebreaking fleet, with delivery of the first vessel within 36 months of award. They want to ensure the ASC program is anchored in American shipbuilding and transitions quickly to full US production, consistent with President Trump’s ‘America First’ priority.

“In line with President Trump’s directive to grow and modernize America’s icebreaking fleet, Bollinger is proud to lead this partnership with a focus on speed, quality, certainty and results,” said Ben Bordelon, President and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards.

“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. With Bollinger’s access to more than 4,000 skilled workers and over 30 facilities across the country, no one is better positioned to move fast and deliver the Arctic Security Cutter.”

“We are fully prepared to begin construction immediately, leveraging a mature design and deep experience in building technically complex vessels for operation in severe winter conditions. With a fully operational production line and world-class facilities, we bring reliability and results—not projections,” Mika Nieminen, President and CEO of Rauma Shipyards, commented.

“Beyond construction, Rauma provides added value through crew training, bridge simulator programs, and ice trials to support successful commissioning and elevate the technological and operational capabilities. Together with our partners, we offer a clear and executable path to strengthening America’s presence in the Arctic.”

“We are proud to collaborate with Bollinger, Rauma and Aker Arctic to share our expertise in icebreaker design and engineering with the United States — a historic ally and close partner with Canada in securing the Arctic,” noted John McCarthy, CEO of Seaspan Shipyards.

“Together, through the ICE Pact, we’re strengthening Arctic security and advancing the long-term capabilities of our nations’ shipbuilding industries.”

The trilateral U.S.-Canada-Finland shipbuilding partnership is a direct embodiment of the ICE PACT initiative, reinforcing the commitment of all three nations to enhance Arctic security and shipbuilding knowledge.

To remind, in December last year, the US Coast Guard/US Navy Integrated Program Office received approval for the construction of the nation’s first polar security cutter.

The US Coast Guard’s operational polar icebreaking fleet currently consists of one heavy icebreaker, the 121.6-meter US Coast Guard cutter Polar Star, which was commissioned in 1976, and one medium icebreaker, the 128-meter US Coast Guard cutter Healy, which was commissioned in 1999.

The service recently acquired a commercially available polar icebreaker to provide additional presence and mission capability in the Arctic. A contract was awarded to Offshore Service Vessels for the purchase of a commercially available polar icebreaker to supplement mission readiness and capability in the polar regions.