In light of growing tensions in the Arctic, Finland struck a deal with the United States and Canada to jointly develop and build new icebreakers to protect the countries’ and NATO interests in the North Pole area.
“As the first initiative under the ICE Pact, we will commit to a joint effort to continue building the best Arctic and polar icebreakers and other Arctic and polar capabilities in each of our respective countries by sharing expertise, information and capabilities,” a press release of the White House reads.
The joint effort was announced during a NATO meeting in Washington on 17 July. It shows the Americans are clearly worried by Russia’s expansion plans in the Arctic, experts are quoted in many media. Russia has 36 icebreakers – including nuclear-powered ones that can sail for a long time. The United States only has two, Canada nine, and Finland 12. The latter is also very experiences with icebreakers, and has ship-building capacity for them. | © 2024 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured photo of Finnish icebreaker Kontio by Igor Dilo (PD)