STX Wins Design Contract for Canadian Coast Guard’s Flagship Polar Icebreaker

STX Canada Marine announced that they have been awarded a contract to design the future flagship polar icebreaker of the Canadian Coast Guard. The $9.5 million contract was awarded by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as part Canada’s the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy to create and strengthen Canada’s shipbuilding industry.

The polar icebreaker, to be named CCGS John G. Diefenbaker after the former Prime Minister, will be able to operate autonomously for 270 days in the Arctic, over a larger area, and in more difficult conditions than any of Canada’s current icebreakers.

The new Icebreaker will be delivered to coincide with the decommissioning of the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent in 2017 and will replace the vessel as the CCG Flagship.

STX Canada Marine has previously worked with the Department of National Defense on the design of an Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPS) and the Canadian Coast Guard on the design of a Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV).

The polar icebreaker is one of the vessels included in the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS) Non-Combat contract awarded to Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards Ltd in October and will be designed and built in Vancouver.  The work will be carried out at STX Canada Marine’s Vancouver office and be completed by the end of 2013.

Supporting the project will be a team of experts from Aker Arctic Technology (AARC), SNC-Lavalin, INDAL Technologies and Noise Control Engineering.

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