U.S., Canada and Finland announce joint Icebreaker Collaboration Effort

July 11 (UPI) -- The United States, Canada and Finland said Thursday agreed on a trilateral pact to strengthen shipbuilding and industrial capacity.

The Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE, will focus on enhanced information exchange, workforce development collaboration and inviting allies to buy icebreakers made in American, Canadian or Finnish shipyards, the White House said in a statement.

"This collaboration is intended to strengthen the shipbuilding industry and industrial capacity of each nation -- and build closer security and economic ties among our countries through information exchange and mutual workforce-development focused on building polar icebreakers, as well as other Arctic and polar capabilities."

The White House added that the three governments plan to leverage shipyards in their nations to build polar icebreakers for their own use, while working with "likeminded allies and partners to build and export polar icebreakers for their needs at speed and affordable cost."

"This partnership is about more than the collective production of polar icebreakers and capabilities, including Arctic and polar-capable ships," the three nations said in a joint statement. "It is about providing the capability for like-minded nations to uphold international rules, norms and standards to sustain peace and stability in the Arctic and Antarctic regions for generations to come."

Details on how each country will implement the collaboration will be established in a joint memorandum by the end of the year.

The U.S. Coast Guard is already working to build new heavy icebreakers under the Polar Security Cutter Program.

The White House said these new ships will be "national assets that ensure access to both polar regions - and will be capable of executing key Coast Guard missions."

Those missions include defense readiness, marine environmental protection and coastal security for ports, waterways and rescue operations.

Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards will build the first Polar Security Cutters, the first U.S.-built heavy icebreakers in more than 50 years.

The U.S. Coast Guard said in June that it had initiated the fourth of five planned phases of the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star's service life extension program.

That phase is scheduled to be completed in August.

The Polar Star completed a 138-day deployment to Antarctica in an annual joint military logistics mission to support the National Science Foundation, according to the Coast Guard.