Finland

Naval Québec announces two trade missions for the spring of 2025. First, and for the first time in its history, Naval Québec will lead a business delegation to the United States, our main trading partner. The mission will take place from April 28 to May 2, 2025, starting in Maine, passing through New England, New York and Pennsylvania, and ending in Washington D.C.

Participants will have the opportunity to make industrial visits, meet with key shipbuilding industry principals on the U.S. East Coast, conduct B2B activities, and build relationships with local government. This includes stops at Portsmouth Naval shipyard, Philly Shipyard and General Dynamics.

View Full Info Here

As the 40-member delegation from the Davie Supplier Association, now known as Naval Québec, arrived in Finland for a week-long mission, it opens exciting partnership opportunities between the Finnish and Québec shipbuilding industries. This initiative holds the promise of collaborative ventures and shared advancements in maritime technology, Business Finland stated.

The acquisition of Helsinki Shipyard by Davie in 2023 has solidified Davie’s position as the global leader in constructing environmentally friendly ships designed for operation in the harshest environment on Earth—the Arctic. This strategic move not only fosters synergies between Québec and Finland but also elevates their stature as premier hubs of naval innovation and expertise.

Moreover, the robust relationship between Davie and Helsinki is poised to create opportunities for suppliers, foster collaboration, facilitate the transfer of know-how, provide access to resources, and boost export potential.

View Full Article Here

The United States plans to order 40 icebreakers, according to US President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has announced plans to order 40 icebreakers to supplement the country’s current fleet, with the news reported by US outlet Forbes, among others.

The country’s current fleet is aging and ready for replacement, according to the financial magazine.

Trump’s announcement came during a visit he made to North Carolina on Tuesday. During his first term, Trump had already proposed commissioning the construction of new icebreakers for the United States.

Finland naturally perked up at the ice-crushing news since Finnish companies have designed and built the majority of the world’s icebreakers.

Posting on messaging platform X, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) said she had spoken with Marco Rubio, America’s new Secretary of State. The two discussed possible cooperation between Finland and the US regarding icebreakers, according to Valtonen.

Forbes meanwhile reports two American icebreakers recently struggled to free a Canadian transport ship stuck outside of Buffalo, New York. The Canadian Coast Guard eventually managed to free the vessel.

View Full Article  Here

In a speech last week in North Carolina, President Donald Trump suggested that the U.S. would soon be ordering 40 big icebreakers for the Coast Guard, and that Canada wants in on the deal. 

Asked about U.S. trade relations with Britain, Trump gave his thoughts on why Canada should become the 51st U.S. state. The U.S. is losing too much money to Canada on trade deficits, he said, and joining the U.S. would mean lower taxes (and no U.S. tariffs) for Canadians.

"Why are we paying all of that money to Canada when, you know, we — we could use it ourselves, right? You know, we ordered — we’re going to order about 40 Coast Guard big icebreakers. Big ones. And all of a sudden, Canada wants a piece of the deal. I say, 'Why are we doing that?'" Trump said. "I mean, I like doing that if they’re a state, but I don’t like doing that if they’re a nation. . . . I would love to see Canada be the 51st state."

The U.S. Coast Guard currently has funds from Congress for a planned three-vessel order for the Polar Security Cutter program, built by Bollinger. The first was approved in late December after years of delay, and the program faces cost overruns. The service's last icebreaker study suggested a need for at least three more medium icebreakers in addition to the current program of record, and its regional icebreaker fleet for the Great Lakes is also advancing in age. 

At present, the service's seagoing fleet has one heavy icebreaker and one medium icebreaker - both aging - and one "bridging strategy" icebreaker, a commercial conversion that will fill gaps until delivery of the first Polar Security Cutter. 

View Full Article Here

MILAN — An agreement between Finland, Canada, and the United States to jointly build icebreaker ships may hold the key to deeper cooperation between the Arctic nations, as Washington has set out to boost its fleet against Russian and Chinese efforts to ramp up their own.

The Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE Pact, was signed in July 2024 on the occasion of NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington. It aims to combine the three nations’ knowledge, resources, and expertise about the Arctic region in general and polar icebreaker construction in particular.

The core ambition of the agreement is to collectively build best-in-class ice boats capable of year-round operations in Arctic waters, plowing pathways for maritime traffic in a region being transformed by climate change. Teaming up in a cluster of countries, the idea goes, will lead to better prices and speedier deliveries for the governments involved.

View Full Article Here

Here is the intro to the article:  Members, here is an excellent report on the Ice Pact compliments of The North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN) .  Entitled “Ice Pact – Unpacked”, the report summarizes the Ice Pact meeting held in Ottawa on December 9, 2024.  Organized by the Canadian Maritime Security Network (CMSN) and the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN), the one-day event sought to facilitate an exchange of expertise to inform the process by which the governments will build upon the current statement of intent and flesh out what the ICE Pact can and should look like as it is translated into practice. The resulting discussion offered a range of insights, touching on how to build the requisite economies of scale, as well as the specific kinds and elements of cooperation needed to visualize the end state of this cooperation including future opportunities and potential hurdles that could hinder the ICEPact’s operationalization.

View Report Here

Officials representing the governments of the United States, Canada, and Finland today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Washington to begin working together to develop world-class Arctic and polar icebreakers through the exchange of knowledge, information, and resources in each of the countries.

The groundbreaking MOU builds off the launch of the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort (ICE) Pact by Prime Minister Trudeau, President Stubb, and President Biden concluded on the margins of the NATO Washington Summit last July.

Posing their signatures on the document were Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada’s Minister of Public Services and Procurement; Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and Wille Rydman, Finland’s Minister of Economic Affairs.

View Full Article Here