Icebreakers

Today, we’ve unveiled proposed plans for our “American Icebreaker Factory”, a possible $1 billion dollar investment which could support over 7,000 jobs through the supply chain and billions in economic development.

This investment could transform Galveston’s historic Gulf Copper Shipyard into a state-of-the-art facility, with the potential to bring significant growth to the United States and support over 7,000 jobs. It could also mark the first U.S. facility purpose-built to deliver Arctic-capable vessels at speed and scale.

Davie Defense stands ready to help America address key national security needs and boost Arctic readiness.

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Seaspan Shipyards has completed a critical milestone in the Canadian Coast Guard’s ambitious Multi-Purpose Icebreakers (MPI) program, successfully concluding the Functional Design Review Meeting for the first six vessels in the program. The North Vancouver-based shipbuilder is now advancing to production drawings in preparation for future construction.

The Canadian Coast Guard plans to build up to 16 MPIs in three separate flights, each with variations in mission profile and capabilities. All design work is being conducted in-house at Seaspan and is reportedly proceeding on schedule and under budget.

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Seaspan is pleased to share that it has begun the next step in the design and engineering phase of the Canadian Coast Guard’s Multi-Purpose Icebreakers program. With the Functional Design Review Meeting for the first flight of six MPIs successfully completed, Seaspan is now working towards the start of the production drawings in preparation for construction.

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Today, Seaspan is pleased to share that we have awarded a Master-Service Agreement worth up to $9 million to BC-based Tri-Metal Fabricators to supply more than 80,000 parts for the Canadian Coast Guard’s new heavy Polar Icebreaker. TMF has committed to delivering the work under the MSA with 100 per cent Canadian Content Value through its local workforce and materials, further advancing the goals of the National Shipbuilding Strategy to strengthen Canada’s marine and defense industrial base.

Seaspan began full-rate construction of the heavy polar icebreaker in April 2025. Once delivered, it will be the most capable vessel in the Canadian Coast Guard fleet, capable of operating year-round in the Arctic, supporting search and rescue, scientific research, and asserting Canadian sovereignty. It is the seventh ship Seaspan is delivering under the NSS.

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Today, Seaspan was pleased to announce that they have formed a strategic partnership with the United States' Bollinger Shipyards and Finland's Rauma Marine Construction and Aker Arctic in order to deliver the lowest-risk, fastest delivery solution of best-in-class Arctic Security Cutters to the U.S. Coast Guard.

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For millennia, a mass of sea ice in the high Arctic has changed with the seasons, casting off its outer layer in summer and expanding in winter as it spins between Russia, Canada and Alaska. Known as the Beaufort Gyre, this fluke of geography and oceanography was once a proving ground for ice to “mature” into thick sheets.

But no more. A rapidly changing climate has reshaped the region, reducing perennial sea ice. As ocean currents spin what is left of the gyre, chunks of ice now clog many of the channels separating the northern islands.

Canada’s coast guard has an expression for this confounding phenomenon: less ice means more ice.

“Most people think climate change means that you won’t need heavy icebreakers,” said Robert Huebert, an Arctic security expert at the University of Calgary. “And the experience of the coast guard is: no, you need far more icebreakers.”

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