This year, the ambitious U.S. plan to build a fleet of icebreakers and commercial ice-class vessels, gas carriers and oil tankers may take shape.

Due to the loss of expertise in this area, the shortage of engineering personnel and skilled labor, the lack of a sufficient number of shipyards after the transition to a service economy and the impossibility of eliminating the backlog in this area in a short time, the U.S. is forced to turn to allied countries, including South Korea and Japan, which are not members of the Ice Pact.

This is already causing certain friction between the future principal builders of the ice fleet for the U.S., which, however, themselves need to remove legislative restrictions on the construction of American ships at foreign shipyards.

The strongest of the four contenders for participation in the construction of icebreakers and commercial ice-class vessels are South Korea and Finland. The first has extensive experience in building large tankers and gas carriers of high ice class, the second – in building medium and heavy class icebreakers, manufactured by order of the Soviet Union.

Canada and Japan are unlikely to be serious competitors to Finland and South Korea, and may receive a small part of the orders from the U.S., which, however, still needs to find sources of financing for the construction of the Arctic fleet and overcome legislative restrictions.

Korea and Japan’s icebreaker construction technology is emerging as a new card in tariff negotiations with the U.S. The U.S. is actively developing the Northern Sea Route to check China and Russia, but since it does not have its own icebreaker construction technology, cooperation with Korean or Japanese shipbuilders is essential.

On May, 25, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met with reporters in Kyoto and said, “Japan has a significant technological advantage (over the US) in icebreakers,” and “Icebreakers, including the Northern Sea Route, will be one point of (US-Japan) cooperation.”

Prime Minister Ishiba plans to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the G7 Summit in Canada in mid-June to conclude tariff negotiations, and he has put icebreaker cooperation as leverage in the negotiations.

The number of icebreaker orders is expected to increase as the need to develop the Arctic route has grown. According to a report titled “Analysis of the U.S. Shipbuilding Industry and Implications for Korea-U.S. Cooperation” recently published by Professor Ryu Min-cheol of Korea Maritime and Ocean University at the request of the Federation of Korean Industries, the total number of icebreaker orders expected in the US from this year to 2037 is 10 ships.

In a phone call with JoongAng Ilbo, Professor Ryu said, “If the number of ships using the Arctic route between Europe and the United States increases, there is a possibility of additional icebreaker orders,” and “Korea is almost the only country with experience building commercial icebreakers, so it has a technological advantage over Japan, which has built icebreakers for research purposes.” This means that icebreakers are also effective as a card in Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations.

Icebreakers are divided into general icebreakers that use the front of the hull to break ice and icebreakers of the Arc-7 class or higher that are equipped with an icebreaker propulsion device (pod propulsion device) at the stern and can break sea ice in both directions. ‘Arc’ is an icebreaker class determined by the Russian Maritime Registration Society (RMRS), and the higher the number, the better the icebreaking ability. Arc-7 can sail through sea ice as thick as 2.1m under its own power and is mainly used for large ice-class commercial vessels.

Korea has extensive experience building Arc-7 class icebreakers. In 2005, Samsung Heavy Industries received an order for the world’s first bidirectional icebreaker (special tanker), and in 2019, it received a contract to design and partially build 15 Arc-7 class icebreaker LNG carriers from the Russian state-owned shipyard Zvezda.

Due to the lack of technology for building icebreakers and LNG carriers in Russia, each part of the hull built at Geoje Shipyard was transported to Russia for final construction. In 2014, when it was Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Hanwha Ocean participated in the Russian Yamal LNG project and won an order for 15 Arc-7 class icebreaker LNG carriers, which were all delivered. Currently, it is building six icebreaker LNG carriers ordered by shipowners from various countries, including Russia.

On the other hand, Japan only has experience building small and medium-sized icebreakers for research and observation. These include the ‘Shirase’ for Antarctic exploration (commissioned in 2009) and the 13,000-ton ‘Mirai 2’ for Arctic exploration (scheduled to be commissioned in 2026). They are smaller in size than icebreaker LNG carriers that are over 100,000 tonnes.

A shipbuilding industry official said, “Japan has only built small and medium-sized icebreakers, so even if it receives an order for a large icebreaker, there will be a lot of trial and error.”

The reason icebreakers are attracting attention is because of the commercial potential of the Northern Sea Route. Using the Northern Sea Route can save about 30% in transportation costs and time compared to existing routes. In the case of the route from Korea to Europe, if you use the Northeast Sea Route (approximately 15,000 km), the transportation distance is reduced by about 25% compared to the route via the Suez Canal (20,000 km).

There is also analysis that due to global warming, ships will be able to sail all year round around 2030. Accordingly, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party Korea presidential candidate, has also pledged to develop the Northern Sea Route.

The United States also has a strong intention to check China and Russia militarily and strategically by developing the Northern Sea Route. At the Russia-China summit on the 8th, ‘Cooperation in the Development of the Northern Sea Route’ was included in the agreement, leading to speculation that Russia and China will be able to become closer in the Arctic region commercially and militarily.

Jang Sang-sik, director of the Korea International Trade Association’s International Trade and Commerce Research Institute, said, “The U.S. needs to check Russia and China, but it lacks icebreaking technology, so it desperately needs Korea’s help.” He added, “It is necessary to proactively propose cooperation to the U.S., lead negotiations, and further secure a share of the Northern Sea Route through joint investment.” The United States is considering Finland instead of Korea for the procurement of icebreakers, which are essential for the development of Alaska’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) gas fields. The atmosphere is gaining weight as even the specific negotiation amount is discussed.