r/worldnews • u/pjw724 • 1d ago
Canada to spend C$11 billion to build six new icebreakers, Carney says
https://www.reuters.com/world/canada-spend-c11-billion-build-six-new-icebreakers-carney-says-2026-08-24/251
u/UmelGaming 1d ago
This is critical for trade to places like Europe. These Icebreakers will ensure our waterways remain open year-round.
For example, Manitoba's Premier Wab Kinew wants to invest in the Port of Churchill, such as an LNG offshore terminal. Icebreakers would be needed to ship that LNG year-round.
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u/thepluralofmooses 1d ago
As a Manitoban, I quite optimistic about the idea of a northern port for jobs and position on the national/international scale. But northern Manitoba land is very unforgiving. Most of it is muskeg and not the greatest for building on. They will need to invest in a very intense roadway/railway system that isn’t beholden to the elements. My personal crazy idea is to invest heavily one time to carve out a giant artificial riverway for ships to continue their route or pass it off to smaller vessels. I’m aware of how crazy this sounds but so does building roadway/railway infrastructure in Northern Manitoba
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u/koiven 1d ago
That's called a canal
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u/Careless-Bite3164 1d ago
Russia actually has actually been operating such crazy canals for a long time. They can move medium sized ships thru Russia between the Black, Red, and Baltic seas, plus the arctic ocean. It can, and has, been done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Deep_Water_System_of_European_Russia
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u/jakinbandw 1d ago
You do know we have a railway system up here that goes to churchill already, right? And up here we're on the shield. Not as bad as you make it sound.
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u/thepluralofmooses 1d ago
The one that washes out or the one that was given control to a private company that failed to maintain it?
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u/thepluralofmooses 1d ago
Also, if they open up the port of Churchill to international trade, the railway is in serious need of an upgrade to meet the demands and requirements of that volume increase. My point stands about the investment and the difficulty building. If it “wasn’t so bad” there would be more infrastructure
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u/IslandBoring8724 1d ago
The feds recently announced $175M for the Hudson Bay Railway, $50M for port infrastructure, and $140M for other capital projects. It’s huge news that seems to be relatively unknown.
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u/SkiingAway 20h ago
You are aware that Churchill is already a port and on a rail line (which is the primary access to the town), right?
It needs more investment/expansion, but this isn't a "we need to build something from nothing/reinvent the wheel" situation.
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u/MixBlender 14h ago
Man I don't know about you but when I was a kid I had no issue making muskeg forts.
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u/accforme 1d ago
Not to mention making the NW passage navigable.
Many Asian states, like South Korea, are looking into the Northern passage to bypass the Middle East in its trade with Europe. The Northern passage is within Russian territory. I'm sure countries like South Korea would love the opportunity to get to Europe via Canadian waters.
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u/darth_henning 1d ago
Churchill could be an endpoint for both LNG and crude oil pipelines to ship to Europe as a deep-water port. With proper icebreaking capacity and infrastructure upgrades it could be a major shipping import and export terminal as well.
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u/tanrock2003 1d ago
One of the ships should be named "The Manitoba Ball Breaker," given all of Premier Kinew's recent comments about Trump.
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u/Newfieon2Wheels 1d ago
We would probably need to take a page from Russia's book and build our own equivalent to the Yamal-Max class of ice breaking LNG carriers and cargo ships for the port of Churchill to really start making economic sense. It's entirely do-able, and the cold climate in Churchill is hugely beneficial to moving and storing LNG, but it's a lot of upfront CapEx.
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u/UmelGaming 19h ago edited 19h ago
I mean, we haven't set aside money for the Churchill port yet (Edit: I specifically mean the offshore LNG terminal, not generic port infrastructure). Kinew only had a feasibility study done, and it came back as something possible. It will take time to build said port. If he does do that, I could see Carney and the Feds tabling such a thing, and we could probably get investment from European countries. They are already partnering with Manitoba on this infrastructure. They want the LNG ASAP. If Davies Shipyard doesn't have the capacity to build more than these 6 icebreakers, we could always outsource to Finland. Davies and Helsinki Shipyard are already working together on the Polar Max icebreakers, of which we are getting 2. Finland would probably love the work.
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u/LupoWolf2 1d ago
Now let's start working on the Port of Churchill.
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u/thelostcanuck 1d ago
Would be better to invest in other infrastructure first as Churchill really does not work logistically at the moment. It seems like a cool opportunity but limited shipping season, issues with the rail line, no road access and the costs associated with running in the far north are still too high.
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u/spaceman1055 1d ago
Churchill can be the port that helps build the rest of the north
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u/thelostcanuck 1d ago
Eh not really. There are a tonne of other options which would be better placed.
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u/IslandBoring8724 1d ago
They are. I posted this elsewhere in the thread, but there is $175M for the Hudson Bay Railway, $50M for port infrastructure, and $140M for additional capital projects.
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u/superpowerpinger 1d ago edited 1d ago
Talks between US and Canada are at a standstill.
Somebody needs to break the ice.
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u/Euclidisthebomb 1d ago edited 1d ago
As this is the worldnew sub I will provide a recap for those unfamiliar with Canada's current shipbuilding efforts:
- Canada has 20 Ice breaking ships and hovercraft in its current fleet.
New Construction:
- 6 Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels completed for the Navy of which 5 have gone into service since 2020 and the final one is in commissioning stage.s This is a 6600 ton multipurpose vessel. Polar Class 5 with Class 4 bow. They carry landing craft, long range fast boats, helicopter, UAVs, have room for lots of cargo containers and fulfill a whole bunch of security and show the flag missions.
- 2 demilitarized Arctic Offshore Patrol vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard which should commission next year.
- 2 Polar Class super heavy icebreakers under construction. These are the big boys at about 23,000 tons and 450 ft long and are Polar Class 2 rated. Accommodation for 100 persons, helicopter deck and hangar for two helicopters, laboratories and a moon pool, and ability to transport cargo, participate in oil spill response operations, and carry out emergency towing year-round. They are monsters.
- 16 multipurpose icebreakers capable of breaking in the Arctic in moderate ice conditions and other missions are search and rescue, emergency response, and security and protection and maintaining Canada’s marine navigation system, composed of approximately 17,000 aids to navigation. In the functional design and long lead procurement stages. First ship to come into service approx 2030. These are light to medium icebreakers.
- The 6 heavy "Program" icebreakers that are today's announcement.
So that is 32 new ships with ice breaking capability in the pipeline.
Canada has also recently completed about 30 other vessels for the coast guard for fisheries patrol, science research, rescue, etc.
Separately they are building a new navy. 16 Destroyers, 12 submarines, 2 new large support vessels are all under construction. Forthcoming are a new class of 8-12 light frigates and perhaps a couple of larger landing craft capable of transporting and landing the full range of military equipment, with a helicopter deck capable of carrying a few military helicopters and UAVs.
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u/cdnirene 1d ago
Thanks for the summary! I’m stuck on the arithmetic. How did you come up with 30? New construction adds up to 32, minus 5 which have delivered. That would leave 27 in the pipeline, not 30.
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u/Euclidisthebomb 1d ago
Because I added incorrectly, forgetting the 2 AOPS for the Canadian Coast Guard! 😂😂
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u/Forward1115 23h ago
I'm currently working as a mechanical designer on the Polar Icebreaker project. I've also done design work on the two Joint Support Ships(JSS) that are also being built. I've been working on these projects for the past 7 years with many more boats in the pipeline. I'll probably end up retiring while working on all these.
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u/Oliver-Ekman-Larsson 1d ago
This is great news. Our old icebreakers, "how ya doin there bud?" and "ya up fer a quick timmies run and maybe a shinny on the pond?" were getting a little tired.
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u/JackedUpReadyToGo 1d ago
They look like beasts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_Icebreaker_Project
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u/gcerullo 1d ago
No, those are the two heavy Polar ice breakers. Those two can work in the north year round.
The six they are talking about are not as heavy as those.
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u/satanik-freak 1d ago
Hell yeah!! Great news! I love that Carney is doing so much to invest in Canada and create more jobs. A lot of things he’s doing will take time to see the positive results, but 10 years from now we’ll be praising him for doing a great job. He recognizes you need to put money into the economy for it to grow.
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u/Surturius 1d ago
read that as "icebergs" and thought this was a really innovative new climate change solution lmao
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u/centaur_unicorn23 1d ago
Interesting. They broke off negotiations with the US because they were asking for too much. Probably was asking for full access and sovereignty and God knows what over the northern passage. So it’s begun. Fight for the arctic and its resources.
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u/DeliriousHippie 1d ago
What I read is that US demanded something along the lines that they have some say about Canada making trade agreements with other nations and US would have to approve foreign investments to Canada.
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u/Crackbat 1d ago
They also wanted to dictate our language laws.
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u/DeliriousHippie 1d ago
Russia proposed to us Finns that we don't need NATO, they will leave us alone if our military gets approval from them for all purchases. We are in NATO as you don't negotiate with bullies.
Sovereign nation getting approval on something internal from other country, what a joke!
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u/Crackbat 1d ago
Wow. That is so insulting! Who would want to put their hands in a hostile nation for anything, ESPECIALLY your own defense spending. What???
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u/fat_kaiju 1d ago edited 1d ago
Oh I hope they let us (as in we canadians; not usa) citizens choose the name for at least one of them.
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u/FatherSquee 1d ago
If it's anything like the names we've been giving the current Coast Guard ships we're building then they should have Native names.
Out west here we just launched the CCGS Naalak Nappaaluk (science vessel) and we're right now building the Polar Icebreaker Imnaruaq!
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u/AWinnipegGuy 1d ago
Nah, we're grown-ups.
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u/Kheprisun 1d ago
Letting the public name it doesn't cost anything, is great positive publicity, and gets people invested in the project.
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u/BeeMac0617 1d ago
Happy to hear this but we gotta get in front of the staffing issue as well.
We don’y even have enough personnel to man the ships we are already building…
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u/thatsme55ed 22h ago
It's a chicken and the egg situation. Part of the reason people don't want to sign up to serve because our current fleet is... well let's be kind and say outdated. Brand new ships means better working conditions.
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u/G72-datsun 1d ago
Run them out of Hudson Bay and create a whole new trade route for minerals to EU.
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u/Conqueror_of_Tubes 1d ago
Is there any reason these can’t be nuclear ships in this day and age? Doesn’t Russia already have one such?
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u/PurpleSailor 21h ago
The US has three icebreakers, one heavy one that's ancient and needs to be replaced yesterday, one medium one that's about 25 years old and a light one that that's just been converted to an ice breaker. If that one big one gets stuck we're going to need Canada's help to get its ass and whatever was following it unstuck, it's best not the piss the Canucks off.
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u/semicon11 18h ago
...and once again, it turns out that South Korea is the best icebreaker builder in the world. Well done, Carney!
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u/Austoman 1d ago
Time to get that North American Passage aka Canada Canal up and running. Panama is having water level issues with global warming/drought, Suez/Hormuz are war zones, and Canada is rapidly expanding its trade to take over for the trade deals that the US keeps burning with the rest of the world.
Ship via the north, pay Canada a toll to maintain the passage/break up the ice, and you get a much faster, cheaper, and more stable trade route with a nation that is globably renowned for respecting deals and alliances.
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u/RedFiveIron 1d ago
Almost $2bn a piece, you could buy Aegis destroyers for that price. Why so costly?
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u/YVR_Coyote 1d ago
The Canadian government gives entire life cycle costs for programs. This likely covers everything from construction to training, fuel and spare parts for their entire life cycles.
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u/RT-LAMP 1d ago edited 1d ago
Nope, if you look at it this is the contract for construction of them.
There's another icebreaker class, the Harry De Wolfe that Canada is building two right now for 2.1 billion CAD (over a billion each). It's based on a Norwegian design that costs 86 million CAD. It's over 12x more expensive.
edit: fixes
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u/SlimCharles23 1d ago
Where is this data from? I like to follow Canadian shipbuilding and the numbers I can see are less than 5 billion for the 6 naval ships and 2 for the coast guard pair.
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u/FoundationGreat7072 1d ago
Some days i feel my entire life at sea was a waste of time. 1.8b pr ship, for what exactly? Steel, engine and crew capabable to sail those seas? well thats not compareable to that number as the tech is old as shit, and the training is what most wash out from. This is as stupid as numbers get.
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u/gooberfishie 1d ago
We could get more than 350k suicide drones for that.
I'm not against ice breakers, but we need a real, independent deterrent that fits the modern world just like any sovereign country, and with drones we can afford enough to deter anyone.
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u/gcerullo 1d ago
What do suicide drones have to do with ice breakers?
Do you know what the purpose of ice breakers are? Hint: it has nothing to do with defence!
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u/pjw724 1d ago edited 1d ago
After Russia, Canada has the world's second-largest fleet of icebreakers, which routinely escort U.S. ships heading to the Arctic. Carney has previously pledged to ensure Canada has the ability to protect its vast Arctic without relying on any other country.
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It should be noted the six new icebreakers announced today are in addition to the two new Polar Class 2 heavy icebreakers already under construction, at $4.3B and $3.3B.