Icebreaker should sail in U.S. waters

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Coast Guard is expected to take possession of a new heavy icebreaker - being built at VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula, Miss - within five years. Alaska’s junior U.S. senator, Dan Sullivan, wants to see it spending more time in American waters. The CG’s Antarctic policy likely will shift the future icebreaker away from its Arctic missions, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported of Sullivan’s remarks. "I think we're too focused on Antarctica and not focused on our own sovereign interests here," Sullivan said. The country’s only heavy icebreaker, the 43 year-old Polar Star, does much of its work around Antarctica breaking ice and escorting supply vessels to the National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station research center and returning home in Seattle for repairs. - a round trip distance of about 11,000 miles. NSF officials expect the new icebreaker will take on Polar Star’s Antarctic research duties. The Polar Star is scheduled to escort two cargo vessels and a tanker in 2020, said CG spokesperson Senior Chief Petty Officer NyxoLyno Cangemi. Polar Star does not currently conduct Arctic missions. A February budget bill appropriated $655M to fully fund one heavy icebreaker and $20M for long-lead items to prepare for building a second. VT Halter Marine is expected to deliver it in 2024. If funded, a second icebreaker is expected in 2025, and a third in 2027. Diverting Coast Guard resources, such as the Polar Star from the Antarctic mission, requires an order from the White House, Cangemi wrote in an e-mail. The science foundation reimbursed the CG over $49,000 per day for use of Polar Star. The CG was reimbursed nearly $33,000 per day for use of the medium-duty icebreaker Healy, which supports Arctic research, he said. (Source: The Associated Press 06/09/19)