Icebreaker Healy, shown here transiting the Gulf of Alaska in 2022, is slated for life extension work. (Janes/Michael Fabey)
The US Coast Guard's (USCG's) efforts to bolster its icebreaking fleets reached key milestones in December 2024, as the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report criticising those programmes.
The USCG confirmed the service officially acquired and formally accepted ownership on 11 December of the motor vessel Aiviq , a 360 ft Polar Class 3 equivalent icebreaker, from an Edison Chouest Offshore subsidiary to enhance US operational presence in the Arctic and support coastguard missions while awaiting delivery of the Polar Security Cutter (PSC) class.
Upon commissioning, the ship will be renamed Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WAGB 21), marking the second cutter to bear that name, the USCG said in a statement acknowledging the acquisition.
The USCG and US Navy (USN) Integrated Program Office confirmed on 23 December that the joint programme received approval on 19 December to begin building the PSC, the first heavy polar icebreaker to be built in the US in more than five decades.
The work is being performed by Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the prime contractor for the design and construction of the future PSC fleet.
“This decision continues work that has been under way since the [boreal] summer of 2023 as part of an innovative approach to shorten the delivery timeline of these critical national assets,” USCG officials said in a 23 December statement.
The approval to begin building the first PSC was granted on the same day the GAO released its report, Coast Guard Acquisitions: Further Cost and Affordability Analysis of Polar Fleet Needed
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