🇨🇦 Seaspan, Genoa sign contract for technical design services on heavy polar icebreaker
October 1, 2025 — North Vancouver, B.C. — Two Canadian powerhouses in shipbuilding are joining forces again. Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) inked a contract with Newfoundland-based Genoa Design International (Genoa) to continue providing design expertise on the Canadian Coast Guard’s new heavy polar icebreaker.
Under the contract, Geona will provide design guidance, growing their local workforce to more than 100 naval architecture and marine systems designers. Work will continue into the vessel’s build phase, already underway at Vancouver Shipyards. Additionally, Genoa will lend their technical leadership and program support essential to advancing the nation’s first built-in-Canada heavy icebreaker in more than 60 years.
Measuring 158 metres long and 28 metres wide, Seaspan’s polar icebreaker will be incredibly complex, designed to operate self-sufficiently in the high-Arctic year-round. It will play a critical role in enabling the Canadian Coast Guard to transit and operate on more than 162,000 km of Arctic coastline. The capabilities of this Polar Class 2 icebreaker will help sustain a 12-month presence in Canada’s North in support of Canada’s 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.
This built-in-Canada 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.
“Genoa’s signing of the Polar Icebreaker Build Contract with Vancouver Shipyards is the latest milestone in an enduring partnership that began and continues under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy. Together, we are strengthening our nation’s ability to support national fleet requirements, from ship construction to vessel lifecycle support. Now more than ever, Canadian companies like Genoa are vitally important to the nation’s sovereignty and security.”
— Gina Pecore, CEO, Genoa Design International
“This agreement not only solidifies our role in the Canadian Polar Icebreaker program but also underscores Vancouver Shipyards’ (VSY) confidence in our ability to provide reliable expertise to support another modern and complex ship construction. This contract represents a significant step forward for the Polar team that has been working on previous design phases since 2022, while continuing the strong 15-year partnership we’ve established with VSY across four major new build programs.”
— Laurie Balan, COO, Genoa Design International
“Seaspan’s new heavy polar icebreaker is more than a ship — it represents a national capability for generations. Genoa continue to be an important Canadian design partner, helping us deliver this flagship vessel to the Coast Guard. Together, we’re continuing to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of Canada’s revitalized shipbuilding industry.”
— Kate Morton, Vice President – Supply Chain, Seaspan Shipyards
About Genoa Design International
For nearly 30 years, Genoa Design International, the Digital Ship Experts™, has been a trusted partner for digital ship design across North America, with extensive experience in Navy and Coast Guard programs in Canada and the U.S., especially Arctic and cold-climate vessels, including Polar-class ships. As an active partner in the Polar Icebreaker program, we’ve built deep knowledge of its requirements, tools, and stakeholders.
About Seaspan
Seaspan is a leader in Canada’s ship design, engineering, building and ship repair industry. With modern facilities and a dedicated workforce of about 4,300 people in North Vancouver and Victoria, the company has proven itself to be a trusted and strategic partner on a range of complex projects for both government and the private sector.
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Originally published on 1 October by Seaspan.
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