Bollinger Shipyards has signed a contract with the U.S. Coast Guard to assemble 4 Arctic Safety Cutters (ASCs), marking a significant step in increasing America’s operational functionality in polar environments. The brand new medium polar icebreakers will likely be constructed at Bollinger’s Houma, Louisiana shipyard, supported by workforce and fabrication capability throughout a number of Gulf Coast services.
The ASC class will likely be primarily based on the Multi-Function Icebreaker design developed by Seaspan Shipyards of Canada with Aker Arctic Expertise of Finland. The cutters are designed for high-endurance Arctic missions, together with icebreaking, sovereignty enforcement, maritime safety, and year-round operations in distant circumstances.
Bollinger CEO Ben Bordelon mentioned the award reinforces the corporate’s longstanding function in Coast Guard fleet modernization. “The Arctic Safety Cutter is among the most consequential shipbuilding packages in U.S. Coast Guard historical past … our mission is to ship these cutters on schedule and mission prepared on day one,” he mentioned.
The award follows a trilateral collaboration among the many U.S., Canada and Finland to speed up icebreaking functionality. The ASC program is deliberate to finally area as much as 11 vessels, complementing the continued Polar Safety Cutter effort and making a layered U.S. Arctic fleet.