Finland’s Aker Arctic Unveils Next-Generation Medium-Class Icebreaker as Global Demand Heats Up

Malte Humpert
September 30, 2025

Finnish icebreaker engineering firm Aker Arctic on Monday released the first renderings of its new B+ class vessel for the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, unveiling a next-generation design as global demand for ice-capable ships accelerates.
The vessel, part of Finland’s long-term renewal of its state-owned icebreaking fleet, is designed to meet tougher environmental standards while ensuring reliable year-round access to Baltic Sea ports.
The new B+ type promises enhanced efficiency, lower emissions, and greater icebreaking power compared to existing medium-class models. It will be significantly cheaper to operate than the largest A-class icebreakers.
Aker Arctic, the world’s leading developers of icebreaking technology, has previously contributed designs for vessels operating all around the world. The company said the medium-class icebreaker design is tailored to Finland’s operational needs, but could also serve as a model for international customers eyeing the rapidly changing Arctic environment.
Both the U.S. and Canada are in the process of expanding their icebreaker fleet, with design and contract decisions by the U.S. Coast Guard on the horizon.
Aker recently joined a trilateral consortium aimed at delivering the next generation of U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers. The partnership includes American Bollinger Shipyards, Finnish Rauma Shipyards, and Canadian Seaspan Shipyards, with Aker spearheading design and engineering work.
Another group led by Canada’s builder Davie and its Helsinki Shipyard is similarly vying to secure future contracts. Davie recently announced plans for a $1 billion “icebreaker factory” in Texas.
As for Aker, after concluding the initial design process on the B+ class icebreaker before summer, the firm has now moved on to phase two; model tests in both open water and ice.
“Even in this day and age, model-scale testing in an ice tank is still the most reliable method to find out how a new icebreaker — particularly one not quite like anything that has been built before — will perform once it is commissioned,” says Aker’s chief designer Tuomas Romu.
While one can use established criteria to calculate straight-line performance, more complex maneuvers such a breaking out from an ice channel or freeing a beset vessel are much more challenging.
“That’s when you call in the test engineers with their little red ships,” remarks Romu.
Aker’s ice basin is directly integrated with the company’s design office fostering close cooperation between naval architects and test engineers. “We have a fairly low threshold to use our in-house ice model testing laboratory to try out new ideas and novel icebreaker designs,” confirms Romu.
In the case of the new B+ icebreaker for the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency some of the testing was open to visitors – a rare occurrence as most projects are confidential – who could observe first-hand how the model breaks ice and chunks move along the side of the vessel.
With the new medium-class icebreaker Aker has set itself a high goal of designing a “no compromise vessel.” The idea is not to design the biggest or most powerful icebreaker that can tackle even the worst ice conditions the Baltic Sea can throw at it. But instead a versatile and cost-efficient vessel that can adapt to changing sea ice conditions over its 50-year design life.
“That’s why we are paying more attention to seakeeping performance and ability to operate in heavily-deformed icepack rather than maximizing the level ice thickness the new icebreaker can break without stopping,” explains Romu.
Aker aims to finalize the tender material before the end of the year with shipyard selection and procurement scheduled for 2026. Keeping with Finland’s rapid pace when it comes to building icebreakers, the B+ class icebreaker is expected to be delivered in late 2029.

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Seaspan Shipyards contracts Genoa for polar icebreaker tech design services

Written by Marine Log Staff
   North Vancouver, B.C.-based Seaspan Shipyards has inked a contract with Newfoundland-based Genoa Design International (Genoa) to continue providing design expertise on the Canadian Coast Guard’s new heavy polar icebreaker.
   Under the contract, Geona will provide design guidance, growing its local workforce in Vancouver to more than 100 naval architecture and marine systems designers. Work will continue into the vessel’s build phase, which is already underway at Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards. Additionally, Genoa will provide its technical leadership and program support to advance the first built-in-Canada heavy icebreaker in more than 60 years.
   Measuring 158 meters long and 28 meters wide, Seaspan’s polar icebreaker will be incredibly complex, designed to operate self-sufficiently in the high-Arctic year-round. It will play a critical role in enabling the Canadian Coast Guard to transit and operate on more than 162,000 kilometers of Arctic coastline. The capabilities of this Polar Class 2 icebreaker will help sustain a 12-month presence in Canada’s North in support of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty, high-Arctic science (including climate change research), indigenous peoples and other northern communities, and the ability to respond to major maritime emergencies including search and rescue.
   It will be able to accommodate up to 100 personnel, and, as one of the only Polar Class 2 vessels in the world, will be able to operate farther north, in more difficult ice conditions and for longer periods, than any icebreaker in Canada to date.
   The ship will be the seventh vessel designed and built by Seaspan under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). It will also be the fifth Polar Class vessel to be built for the CCG, and one of up to 21 icebreaking vessels overall that Seaspan is constructing.
   “Genoa’s signing of the Polar Icebreaker Build Contract with Vancouver Shipyards is the latest milestone in an enduring partnership that began and continues under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy. Together, we are strengthening our nation’s ability to support national fleet requirements, from ship construction to vessel lifecycle support. Now more than ever, Canadian companies like Genoa are vitally important to the nation’s sovereignty and security.” said Gina Pecore, CEO, Genoa Design International
   “Seaspan’s new heavy polar icebreaker is more than a ship — it represents a national capability for generations,” said Kate Morton, vice president – supply chain, Seaspan Shipyards. “Genoa continue to be an important Canadian design partner, helping us deliver this flagship vessel to the Coast Guard. Together, we’re continuing to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of Canada’s revitalized shipbuilding industry.”