U.S. joins pact to address icebreaker gap with Russia in race to exploit Arctic

The U.S. is joining forces with Canada and Finland to vastly increase the Coast Guard’s small, aging fleet of icebreakers, which now consists of two vessels: the 48-year-old heavy icebreaker Polar Star and the Healy, a 25-year-old medium icebreaker.

On Thursday, the three governments signed the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort on the sidelines of NATO’s 2024 summit now wrapping up in Washington. The “ICE Pact” aims to bolster the shipbuilding capabilities among the NATO allies to deter Russian and Chinese maritime ambitions in the far North.

Private analysts say the U.S. military is distantly trailing Russia in the fleet race to exploit resources and trade routes of the Arctic that are opening up as the planet warms and the ice cover recedes. Russia is estimated to have a fleet of some 36 icebreakers, including some that are nuclear-powered, according to U.S. Coast Guard estimates, and is building more. President Vladimir Putin has openly targeted the frozen north as a key sector to expand the Kremlin’s influence.

China has also declared itself a “near-Arctic state” and is seeking to boost its economic and security presence there in collaboration with Moscow.

U.S. officials said the three partners plan to build about 80 icebreakers in the coming years and intend for their domestic shipyards to have the contracts. The gap has become so wide that President Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finnish President Alexander Stubb met during the NATO gathering this week to nail down details of the production pact. Finland currently has 12 icebreakers and Canada nine, according to U.S. Coast Guard data.

“Without this arrangement, we’d risk our adversaries developing an advantage in a specialized technology with vast geostrategic importance, which could also allow them to become the preferred supplier for countries that also have an interest in purchasing polar icebreakers,” Daleep Singh, the White House deputy national security adviser for international economics, told The Associated Press.

“We’re committed to projecting power into the high latitudes alongside our allies and partners,” Mr. Singh said. “And that requires a continuous surface presence in the polar regions, both to combat Russian aggression and to limit China’s ability to gain influence.”

Climate change is creating new and more accessible shipping lanes in the Arctic region that hold the potential to create new economic opportunities and drive down shipping costs. The icebreaker partnership can also foster increased scientific research and international collaboration in the Antarctic as well, the three governments said.

“The governments … intend to leverage shipyards in the United States, Canada, and Finland to build polar icebreakers for their own use, as well as to work closely with like-minded allies and partners to build and export polar icebreakers for their needs at speed and affordable cost,” White House officials said Thursday.

Long-term multiship contracts are essential to the success of a shipyard due to the capital intensity of shipbuilding. As the U.S., Canada and Finland yards invest in their domestic capacity to build icebreakers for their own needs, the ICE Pact members say they will invite other allies to purchase icebreakers from them.

“Through diplomatic collaboration, shipyards focused on building polar icebreakers can reach the scale needed to reduce costs for allies and partners that need access to the polar regions,” the White House said in a statement.

By the end of the year, the U.S., Canada, and Finland will develop the framework for implementing the ICE Pact within each country and a mechanism for adding potential partners to the icebreaker consortium.

“This partnership is about more than the collective production of polar icebreakers and capabilities, including Arctic and polar-capable ships,” they said in a joint statement. “It is about providing the capability for like-minded nations to uphold internal rules, norms and standards to sustain peace and stability in the Arctic and Antarctica regions for generations to come.”

According to a Government Accountability Office report, the U.S. hasn’t built a heavy polar icebreaker in almost 50 years, the AP reported. Mr. Singh said the three leaders hope to sign a memorandum by the end of the year formally endorsing the agreement.

• This article was based in part on wire service reports.