U.S. Coast Guard Green-Lights Construction of First New Heavy Icebreaker

After years of delays, design challenges and costs overruns, the U.S Coast Guard (USCG) is finally set to begin the construction of the lead vessel in a class of new heavy polar icebreakers, the first to be built in the country in more than five decades.

The USCG and the Navy Integrated Program Office received approval on December 19 to begin building the first ship, which will be called Polar Sentinel. The USCG announced that the approval incorporates eight prototype fabrication assessment units (PFAUs) currently being built or planned.

“The PFA has prepared the government and the shipbuilder to begin construction of the PSC class, resulting in more precise, cost-effective and reliable construction processes,” said the Coast Guard in a statement.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reckons the ship will cost $1.9 billion, which is far above the original estimate when the USGC awarded the construction contract to VT Halter Marine in April 2019. VT Halter Marine was acquired by Bollinger Shipyards, and has since been renamed Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding.

The approval to start the construction of the lead vessel now means the USCG can embark on the much-delayed program. If all goes according to the revised plan, delivery of Polar Sentinel is scheduled for 2029, five years later than the original timeline provided by VT Halter.

Construction of the lead ship has been plagued by delays and cost overruns, and has left the U.S. lagging behind rivals China and Russia, which have both invested in a growing fleet of modern heavy icebreakers.  

The program is technically challenging, and requires relearning skills that have not been exercised since Polar Star and Polar Sea were built in the 1970s. Construction is not straightforward: the hull plating of a heavy icebreaker has to be much thicker to enable it to endure thick ice. A special-purpose steel alloy also ensures the hull will be capable of remaining flexible even in extremely low temperatures. Deeper, more closely spaced structural stiffeners inside the hull will ensure the ship doesn’t crumple when it encounters large ice floes; this additional internal structure results in a highly compartmentalized interior belowdecks. 

Polar Sentinel will be the lead ship in the PSC program, with the subsequent two ships averaging about $1.6 billion each. CBO has highlighted that given the estimates, the three-ship PSC program would cost $5.1 billion, about 60 percent more than the Coast Guard’s current estimate of $3.2 billion. Operating and supporting a force of three heavy icebreakers is expected to cost $12.4 billion between 2029 and 2063, when those ships would be in service. If the Coast Guard acquires more than three ships, operating costs would be higher and would continue for a longer period.

In the meantime, the USCG's icebreaker program must grapple with the challenges of aging tonnage until Polar Sentinel arrives. The 400-foot heavy icebreaker Polar Star was commissioned in 1976, while the 420-foot medium icebreaker Healy has been in operation since 2000. Just this week, the USCG completed the $125 million acquisition of commercial polar icebreaker Aiviq to provide bridging capacity and increase operational presence in the Arctic ahead of the PSC fleet deliveries.  

The USCG contends that having more polar icebreakers is critical to guarantee year-round presence of at least one vessel in the east Arctic and another in the west Arctic, as well as the half-time presence of a ship in the Antarctic. This will enable the U.S. to counter the increasing economic and geopolitical competition in the Arctic from China and Russia.