Why the US Is Buying the World’s Finest Icebreakers from Finland
The US is buying Finnish icebreakers to boost Arctic power as climate change opens new routes and tensions rise with Russia and China.
As President Donald Trump insists that the US should own Greenland, his increased focus on the Arctic region has led Washington to order new icebreakers.
For these vessels, capable of navigating ice-covered seas, the US has turned to the world's experts – Finland.
Inside Aker Arctic Technology's ice laboratory, the temperature is below freezing as a scale model of an icebreaker moves through a 70-meter-long simulation tank.
It carves a clear path through the frozen surface of the water.
This design, undergoing testing at a facility in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, is for the country's next generation of icebreakers.
"It's very important that it has sufficient structural strength and engine power," says ice performance engineer Riikka Matala.
The ship's shape is also crucial, says the firm's chief executive, Mika Hovilainen. "You need to have a hull form that pushes the ice downwards and breaks it," he says. "It's not cutting, it's not slicing."
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When it comes to icebreakers, Finland is the undisputed world leader. Finnish companies have designed 80% of all icebreakers currently in operation, and 60% were built in Finnish shipyards.
Maunu Visuri, president and chief executive of the Finnish state-owned company Arctia, which operates a fleet of eight icebreakers, explains that the country's leadership in this field stems from necessity.
"Finland is the only country in the world where all ports can freeze over in winter," he says, adding that 97% of the country's goods are imported by sea.
During the coldest months, icebreakers keep Finland's ports open, acting as pathfinders for large cargo ships. "It's truly a necessity for Finland. We say that Finland is an island." It was because of this expertise that Trump announced in October that the US planned to order four icebreakers from Finland for the US Coast Guard.
Seven more of these vessels, which the US is calling "Arctic Security Cutters," will be built in the United States using Finnish design and expertise.
“We’re buying the best icebreakers in the world, and Finland is known for making them,” Trump said. Under US law, the country’s naval and Coast Guard vessels must be built domestically, but in this case, the president waived the requirement on national security grounds. He cited “aggressive military behavior and economic encroachment by foreign adversaries,” by which he meant Russia and China.
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This US concern comes at a time when climate change is making the Arctic Ocean more navigable for cargo ships, at least if icebreakers clear the way. This opens up commercial trade routes from Asia to Europe, either over Russia, or north of mainland Alaska and Canada, and past Greenland.
The receding ice also means that oil and gas reserves beneath the Arctic are becoming more readily accessible.
“There’s a lot more traffic in that part of the world now,” says Peter Ribsky, a retired US Navy officer and Arctic expert based in Helsinki.
“Russia has an active oil and gas exploration and extraction industry, as well as a new emerging trans-shipment route from Europe to Asia.”
Following Trump’s announcement last fall, the first contract was awarded on December 29.
Finland’s Rauma Marine Constructions will build two icebreakers for the US Coast Guard at its shipyard in the port of Rauma, Finland. The first vessel is scheduled for delivery in 2028.
Four more will be built in Louisiana, all six utilizing an Aker Arctic Technology diesel-electric powered design. The American orders are part of an effort to match the number of Russian icebreakers. Russia currently has approximately 40 icebreakers, eight of which are nuclear-powered.
In contrast, the US currently has only three in operation.
Meanwhile, China operates about five polar-capable vessels. "None of them are technically icebreakers," says Rybski, explaining that their design doesn't meet the strict criteria. "But they are expanding their fleet."
He adds that China is increasingly sending these "research" vessels into Arctic waters between Alaska and the Russian Far East, including areas that the US considers its "exclusive economic zone."
"With limited means to respond, this becomes a problem [for the US]."
Trump's desire to expand the icebreaker fleet goes beyond the practicalities of operating in the ice-covered Arctic seas, assesses Lin Mortensgaard, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. She says it's also about projecting power.
"No matter how many aircraft carriers you have and how much you use them to threaten states, you can't take your aircraft carriers into the central Arctic Ocean," she says.
"Icebreakers are really the only naval vessels that signal that you are an Arctic nation with Arctic capabilities. And I think that's what most of the US discussion is about."
In Finland, the Helsinki Shipyard is located on a dock on the capital's waterfront. This is where half of the world's icebreakers have been built. Today, it is owned by the Canadian firm Davie, and it is also hoping to secure new contracts from the US Coast Guard.
"The geopolitical situation has certainly changed," says Kim Salmi, the shipyard's managing director.
"Our eastern neighbor [Russia] is right here. They are building their [new] fleet. And the Chinese are building their fleet."
He continues: "The US, Canada, and Western allies, all together, are looking for a balance of power."
Inside a massive shipbuilding hangar, workers are cutting and welding steel for the yard's latest icebreaker, a heavy-duty Arctic vessel called Polarmax, which is being built for the Canadian Coast Guard.
The Finns can build these complex ships remarkably quickly – it takes two and a half to three years – all thanks to an efficient production method and decades of experience.
"For over 100 years, we've been practicing this," says Visuri of Arctia. "You have this cycle of designers, operators, builders. That's why Finland is a superpower in the world of icebreakers."
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