Building a ‘heavy’ icebreaker in Helsinki

By Peter Rybski September 23, 2025
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Helsinki Shipyard. Image: Helsinki Shipyard.

This is a reproduction of an article that first appeared on Sixty Degrees North. If you would like to read more posts by Peter Rybski, you can sign up for his blog here.

Despite my best efforts over the past several years, I still hear people incorrectly state that Finland does not build heavy icebreakers, or that they cannot build the types of icebreakers that the U.S. Coast Guard needs.

Finland doesn’t operate any truly polar icebreakers simply because they are not needed. Rather, Finland uses its icebreaker fleet to keep its ports open throughout the winter. As a nation of just 5.5 million people, it would be difficult to justify spending limited taxpayer dollars to include unnecessary capabilities in its own vessels.

But Finnish companies have certainly designed and built such icebreakers for other customers. And now, we can see construction of a ‘heavy’ polar icebreaker in real time. As I reported earlier this year, Canadian shipbuilder Davie is building a Polar Class 2 heavy polar icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard. Part of the vessel will be built at Davie’s Helsinki Shipyard, and part in Quebec.

Production work began in Finland on August 20th, when Davie revealed this countdown until delivery (August 21, 2030). Yes, they fully intend to deliver a heavy polar icebreaker within five years, if not earlier (Davie claims it would take only 36 months if built entirely in Finland).

Countdown to delivery from August 20th, 2025. Source: Davie/Youtube

To demonstrate this capability in real time, I intend to track and document the work at Helsinki Shipyard over the next several years.

    Production Day 20

    Here is a photo I took during my visit to Helsinki Shipyard on September 9, 2025—20 days after construction began:

    This block will become one of the machinery spaces for the Canadian Polar Icebreaker.

    Note that Helsinki Shipyard is but one of at least three locations where production work is ongoing. As I reported in July, Davie bought a shipyard in Pori, Finland mainly for its steel production facility.

    This facility, re-named Sata Shipbuilding, restores major block production capability to Helsinki Shipyard, which sold off its steel production facilities in Helsinki around twenty years ago. (Unlike many shipyards, Helsinki Shipyard occupies valuable real estate right in the heart of a city.) In the interim, Helsinki Shipyard relied on subcontractors in Poland and Lithuania for its block production. Now Sata Shipbuilding will fill this role.

    Work will also be occurring in Quebec.Here’s a link to a recently released highlight video from the August 20, 2025 Steel Cutting Ceremony:

    Thoughts and Comments

    I intend to closely follow and document construction of the Polar Class 2 ‘heavy’ Polar Icebreaker at Helsinki Shipyard in my continuing effort to correct the false belief that Finnish companies cannot build the types of icebreakers needed by the U.S. Coast Guard.

    Part of this too is to document that Helsinki Shipyard can actually build ships in the timelines that it claims (and has historically demonstrated). There is so much finger pointing and questioning going on right now as different shipyard vie for future icebreaking contracts. One of the best ways to sort out ground truth is to ignore what is being said and watch what is actually happening.

    You will also see me reporting on Rauma Marine Construction’s (RMC) progress building the Finnish Navy Corvettes. I cannot report in the same detail, because Rauma is several hours away by car (whereas I can get to Helsinki Shipyard in just 20 minutes). From what I’ve seen, RMC is doing fine work. At the moment, they have three (of a planned four) Corvettes in simultaneous production.

    Thanks to Davie/Helsinki Shipyard for continuing to give me the access to document their project.

    Please let me know if you have any questions. If I can’t answer them myself, I’ll ask the folks at Helsinki Shipyard during my next visit.

    All the Best,

    PGR

    Peter Rybski is a retired U.S. Naval Officer who has been living in Finland since 2017. On his blog, he writes about subjects including military policies and capabilities, history and Nordic living.