The United States, Canada and Finland have announced a new partnership focused on producing polar icebreakers and workforce development in the shipbuilding industry.
The Icebreaker Collaboration Effort Pact, unveiled on the sidelines of a three-day NATO summit in Washington D.C., comes as the U.S. Coast Guard builds new heavy icebreakers to ensure access to the northern and southern polar regions. The Chinese and Russian governments have become attracted to the area’s mineral resources and geostrategic locations for potential military uses.
Under the ICE Pact, the three countries will enhance information exchange on icebreaker production and encourage other allies and partners that need access to the polar regions to purchase the vessels built in American, Canadian, or Finnish shipyards at an affordable cost.
A joint memorandum of understanding will be drafted in the coming months to outline how the agreement will be implemented in each country and create a mechanism for expanding the partnership to include other allies.