Canada\u2019s Seaspan Shipyards cuts steel for heavy polar icebreaker
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Canada\u2019s Seaspan Shipyards in North Vancouver, B.C., yesterday cut steel on the new heavy polar icebreaker it is building for the Canadian Coast Guard, marking the start of construction on one of the most advanced conventional polar icebreakers ever to be built.<\/p>\n
Measuring 158 meters long and 28 meters wide, Seaspan\u2019s polar icebreaker will be incredibly complex, designed to operate self-sufficiently in the high-Arctic year-round.<\/p>\n
It will play a critical role in enabling the Canadian Coast Guard to transit and operate on more than 162,000 kilometers of Arctic coastline.<\/p>\n
The capabilities of this Polar Class 2 icebreaker will help sustain a 12-month presence in Canada\u2019s North in support of Canada\u2019s Arctic sovereignty, high-Arctic science (including climate change research), Indigenous Peoples and other northern communities, and the ability to respond to major maritime emergencies including search and rescue. It will be able to accommodate up to 100 personnel, and, as one of the only Polar Class 2 vessels in the world, will be able to operate farther north, in more difficult ice conditions and for longer periods than any icebreaker in Canada to date.<\/p>\n
The ship will be the seventh vessel designed and built by Seaspan under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). It will also be the fifth Polar Class vessel to be built for the CCG, and one of up to 21 icebreaking vessels overall that Seaspan is constructing.<\/p>\n