Forget the hype. Here are the facts about last week’s US-Finland icebreaker deal

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.

There has been a lot of hype (and incorrect information) flowing since Thursday, when this deal was announced. Here’s a short summary of what actually happened followed by details:

• Presidents Trump and Stubb signed a Memorandum of Understanding to help clear the way for commercial deals to build icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard in two Finnish shipyards.
• President Trump issued a memorandum that waives the requirement that U.S. Coast Guard vessels be built in the USA. This memorandum specifically authorizes four vessels to be built abroad for national security reasons.
• According to a White House Official, a total of eleven medium icebreakers (called Arctic Security Cutters) will be built, with four of them being built in Finland at two different Finnish shipyards.
• Production of the other seven vessels will occur in the United States.
• The deal involves two different designs:
  • Davie will build a Helsinki Shipyard design called the MPPS-100, a fourth-generation design. As reported by the Reuters, two vessels will be built at Helsinki Shipyard and then three at Davie’s recently purchased facility in Galveston, TX.
  • Rauma Marine Constructions (of Finland) will build two vessels of a design created originally for the Canadian Coast Guard1. Four additional ships of this design, called the Multi-Purpose Icebreaker (MPI), will be built by Bollinger in Louisiana. Note that MPI construction in Canada has not yet started.
• Building in Finland enables the vessels to be built faster; the first ships are expected as early as 2028. This is necessary because the U.S. Coast Guard operates an aging, too-small fleet of icebreakers and the domestic Polar Security Cutter program is years behind schedule and significantly over budget.
• There are still many details to work out as the contracts are negotiated.

The Presidential Meeting and Signed Documents

On Thursday, Presidents Trump and Stubb met and signed a memorandum of understanding, which does not appear to be public. The White House later released a memorandum and a fact sheet.

Here is what those documents contained.

President Trump issued a Memorandum on the Construction of Arctic Security Cutters. As required by Title 14, U.S. Code, the President clearly states that it is in the national security interest of the United States to build Arctic Security Cutters abroad:

Section 1. Purpose. The United States faces an urgent and growing threat in the Arctic region posed by strategic competition, aggressive military posturing, and economic encroachment by foreign adversaries. These actions undermine United States sovereignty; jeopardize critical shipping lanes; and threaten energy, mineral, and national defense interests.

The United States Coast Guard’s fleet of icebreakers and Arctic-capable vessels remains insufficient to meet current operational demands and presents a national security risk.

Sec. 2. Restriction on Construction of Vessels in Foreign Shipyards. (a) Pursuant to 14 U.S.C. 1151(b) and 10 U.S.C. 8679(b), I find that it is in the national security interest of the United States to construct up to four Arctic Security Cutters (ASCs) abroad. Within 60 days of the date of this memorandum, the United States Coast Guard, through the Secretary of Homeland Security, informed by the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, shall submit to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a plan to phase the construction of ASCs in a manner that promotes the on-shoring of expertise necessary to build follow-on icebreakers domestically.

It also gives the U.S. Coast Guard sixty days to submit its plan to the National Security Advisor.

Title 14 is the section of the U.S. Code that pertains to the U.S. Coast Guard, whereas Title 10 applies to the U.S. Navy. It is these sections of U.S. Code, and not the Jones Act2, that requires U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy vessels to be built in the United States. But that requirement can be waived.

Along with the memorandum, the White House released a fact sheet. It provides a few additional details from the memorandum, such as naming Finland as the proposed partner:

• In line with this decision, the President has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Finland to construct these four ASCs in shipyards located in Finland, followed by the leveraging of Finnish expertise to construct up to seven new ASCs in shipyards located in the United States.
• The United States and Finland will engage in close collaboration to enhance the ASC fleet of the United States on an accelerated schedule, to revitalize the shipbuilding industry of both countries.

The fact sheet provides some additional justification for the immediate need of the vessels.

BOLSTERING ARCTIC DEFENSE: This Memorandum addresses growing strategic competition, aggressive military posturing, and economic encroachment by foreign adversaries, all of which threaten U.S. interests in the Arctic.

• The U.S. Coast Guard’s fleet of ASCs and Arctic-capable vessels is insufficient to meet current operations demands and presents a national security risk.
• Currently, the Coast Guard’s operational polar fleet includes just two operational ASCs: One was commissioned in 1976; the other was previously a commercial vessel and commissioned into the Coast Guard just last month. The Coast Guard assesses that at least 9 ASCs are needed in order to serve our national security needs year-round in the Arctic.
• Adversaries’ aggressive military and economic actions in the Arctic jeopardize U.S. sovereignty, shipping lanes, and energy resources.
• Foreign construction of ASCs is a temporary measure to bridge a critical capability gap while spurring future domestic shipbuilding investment that will ensure the Coast Guard has the full supply of cutters it requires.
• The deals with Finnish shipyards will create great jobs for Americans, bring cutting-edge shipbuilding intellectual property to the United States, and result in billions of dollars of new investments in America.
• These ships, most of which will eventually be made in America, will be among the most modern icebreaking vessels in the world.

The second bullet point is incorrect. The U.S. Coast Guard has changed its terminology in recent years, with ‘Heavy Icebreaker’ becoming ‘Polar Security Cutter’ and ‘Medium Icebreaker’ becoming ‘Arctic Security Cutter.’ It is the U.S. Coast Guard’s sole PSC/heavy icebreaker, Polar Star, that was built in 1976. Its ASC/medium icebreaker Healy was commissioned in 1999.

The fact sheet also provides a short list of the Trump Administration’s efforts to acquire icebreakers going back to the first administration. Indeed, I worked on that initiative in 2019-2020 while serving as the U.S. Naval Attaché to Finland. That’s how I got involved in icebreakers in the first place.

The Construction Plan (as related to Reuters)

WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb sealed an agreement on Thursday for the U.S. Coast Guard to acquire up to 11 icebreaker ships to bolster U.S. national security in the Arctic.

—

Under the agreement, Finland will build four “Arctic security cutters” at shipyards in Finland, and then the U.S. will leverage Finnish expertise to construct up to seven new ASCs in shipyards located in the United States.

—

Three of the 11 ships will be built by international shipbuilder Davie in Galveston, Texas, and four will be built by Bollinger Shipyards in Houma, Louisiana, the official said.

Note that we are talking about two different ship designs.

Davie will build its MPPS 100 design Arctic Security Cutter first at Helsinki Shipyard, and then, according to the article, at its new facility in Galveston, Texas, for a total of five vessels.

The other design is called the Multi-Purpose Icebreaker, or MPI. Aker Arctic (a Finnish design company) and Seaspan produced this design for the Canadian Coast Guard. Seaspan will eventually build sixteen of them at its Vancouver shipyard in three different flights. At the moment, it is working on other vessels and plans to begin building its MPIs in 2027.

To speed production, the Finnish shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions will build two MPIs for the U.S. Coast Guard in parallel with Bollinger building an MPI in Louisiana. According to Bollinger’s press release, this consortium plans on delivering three MPIs within three years. The remaining four will then be built in Louisiana.

…But No Deals Yet

I’d like to note that no contracts or agreements have been signed. Helsinki Shipyard stresses this in their press prelease (original in Finnish, translated by google) (emphasis mine):

Washington DC | Helsinki: On October 9, the Presidents of the United States and Finland signed a Memorandum of Understanding on icebreaking cooperation at the White House, in which the Trump administration confirmed its intention to procure medium-duty Arctic Security Cutters (ASC) icebreakers for the United States Coast Guard. Davie, the owner of the Helsinki shipyard, is now entering into commercial negotiations to build the icebreakers for the United States Coast Guard. The number of ships to be built and the economic impact will only be determined in future negotiations.

“This Memorandum of Understanding marks the beginning of a Western shipbuilding project the likes of which has not been seen since World War II. It represents a revival of Western industrial power led by the United States, and is powered by Finland’s world-leading icebreaking expertise. We will work tirelessly with the United States Coast Guard to get the ships into the water by 2028,” says Davie co-owner and CEO James Davies.

What Comes Next:

Obviously, contract negotiations. It seems we know what the White House wants, but there are still some details to work out as Helsinki Shipyard noted in the press release.

The ship designs can accept some smaller modifications. For example, the Davie/Helsinki Shipyard design features power, space, and weight for notional weapons systems and sensors that can be adjusted to meet the specific needs of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The MPI as originally designed for the Canadian Coast Guard featured a large crane and deck space for buoy maintenance, but no weapons. The MPI illustration accompanying the Seaspan press release replaces the crane with a 25mm gun, perhaps showing a possible modification or one already requested by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Designs

Here is a chart showing the basic stats of the designs along with the (very basic) requirements set forth in a U.S. Coast Guard Request for Information from earlier this year:

Why Build in Finland?