U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan today applauded the official announcement by the U.S. Coast Guard that a commercial icebreaker will be homeported in Juneau.
The Coast Guard is acquiring the Aiviq, a U.S.-registered ship originally built to serve as an Arctic oil-exploration support vessel, which has an icebreaking capability sufficient to serve as a Coast Guard medium polar icebreaker, after undergoing modification. The ship is being purchased from a subsidiary of Louisiana-based Edison Chouest, which built it in anticipation of oil project in the Chukchi Sea.
“The United States is an Arctic nation, and the Coast Guard is vital to providing presence in our sovereign waters and the polar regions,” said Adm. Kevin Lunday, Coast Guard vice commandant. “As we continue to build the Polar Security Cutters, acquiring a commercially available polar icebreaker will enable the Coast Guard to increase our national presence in the Arctic, and homeporting this cutter in Alaska demonstrates the Service’s steadfast commitment to the region.”
The Coast Guard was appropriated $125 million in fiscal year 2024 to buy an available icebreaker. Currently, the Aiviq is the only U.S. built commercial vessel meeting necessary icebreaking standards. The Coast Guard anticipates the vessel will reach initial operational capability in two years.
The Coast Guard has been the sole provider of America’s polar icebreaking capability since 1965 and is seeking to increase its icebreaking fleet with new Polar Security Cutters. The Coast Guard currently operates two polar icebreakers, the Coast Guard Cutter Healy, a medium polar icebreaker, and the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, the only U.S. heavy polar icebreaker.
Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda L. Fagan, who is traveling with the senators in Alaska, had previously committed to the senators that the icebreaker would be homeported in Juneau. However, until now, the decision had not been made final.
In March, Sullivan and Murkowski successfully secured $125 million to purchase the icebreaker in the FY 2024 Homeland Security Appropriations Act after years of advocacy. The United States currently has only one operational heavy icebreaker, the Polar Star, which is on its second life extension. The one medium icebreaker, the Healy, recently had an onboard fire and was forced to cancel an Arctic mission.
Russia has 55 icebreakers and they are building more.
“This is an exciting day for Juneau, for Alaska, and for America. I want to commend Admiral Fagan for making this important announcement in our state, among Alaskans, and for keeping her commitment to homeport an icebreaker in Juneau,” said Senator Sullivan. “The need to build up our icebreaking capacity could not be more urgent: Just days ago, the Healy had to abort its summer Arctic patrol due to a fire, and the 50-year-old Polar Star remains out of commission undergoing its own repairs. Our national security interests in the Arctic have also never been more critical, demonstrated by the joint Russian and Chinese naval and air task forces that have operated off Alaska’s coastline these past two years. Since coming to the Senate, I’ve been working relentlessly to wake up our federal government to the strategic importance of this region. The sea change we’ve achieved since 2015 is unprecedented: serious Arctic security strategies from the Department of Defense (DOD) and each of the military services, a new DOD Arctic Security Studies Center at JBER, a new Department of Homeland Security Arctic Domain Awareness Center at UAA, America’s first deep-water Arctic port in Nome, a massive increase in Coast Guard vessels and infrastructure throughout Alaska that I secured working with the previous commandant, and now, an icebreaker will officially be coming to Juneau. We have a lot more work to do, but this is an important milestone and I know that the entire community of Juneau is working hard to prepare for it.”