The U.S. Coast Guard announced Tuesday that it has awarded a $137 million contract for the first phase of a project intended to allow its Seattle base to host two new heavy icebreakers.
The contract, awarded to The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, covers dredging of the Coast Guard’s Slip 36 and construction of two ship berths capable of hosting the new icebreakers, formally known as Polar Security Cutters.
The first of those ships, the Polar Sentinel, is expected to be complete in 2030. When accepted into the Coast Guard, it will be the service’s first new heavy icebreaker since the Polar Star was commissioned in 1977.
The Coast Guard operates the federal government’s icebreaker fleet, and the Polar Star is key to supplying American research bases in Antarctica from its Seattle home port.
A second and third heavy icebreaker were fully funded with $4.3 billion included as part of the Republican budget package approved by Congress and President Donald Trump earlier this year.
The budget package also included $300 million for port construction in Juneau to support the newly commissioned Coast Guard icebreaker Storis, a converted oilfield services ship. Until that work is complete, the Storis will be homeported in Seattle.
The Republican budget package, known as the “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” includes billions of dollars for shoreside port facilities like those in Juneau and Seattle.
Additional phases of work are expected in Seattle, which is expected to be the home port of four new major Coast Guard cutters, the service said in a written statement.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. This article originally appeared online at alaskabeacon.com. Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of States Newsroom, is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.
