It seems the US isn’t competitive in the Icebreaker business… should we keep Helsinki’s shipyard busy for our own profit?
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Finland is the best in the world at building icebreakers. Even the Russians, with the largest and most sophisticated icebreaker fleet in the world, get theirs built by Finland.
Sounds good to me. That said it would also be nice to have some backup capability to build these kind of ships in our own country, or at least ensure we have the ability to maintain and upgrade them. Maybe we could partner with Finland to add our nuclear technology to their icebreaker expertise and provide some actual value to the world.
Does Canada have any actual experience with the high enrichment necessitated by navel reactors? I thought half the point of the CANDU reactor was its very low enrichment. Otherwise the options would be either conventional or French.
In 2023, with $110 million in aid from the Quebec government, Davie purchased Helsinki Shipyard Oy, a shipyard located in the Finnish capital that alone built 60% of the world’s icebreaker fleet.
The yard was once owned by Russian investors and had designed a new type of icebreaker for a Russian company that was never delivered due to sanctions imposed on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine. It is this design that will be adapted for Canada to replace the aging Louis S. St-Laurent , which remains Canada’s heaviest icebreaker in service.
