US Icebreakers Finland Deal: Why America is Buying Ships
News Context
At a glance
- Under US law, the country's naval and coastguard ships must be domestically-built, but in this case the president waived that requirement on national security grounds.
- This US concern comes as climate change continues to make the Arctic Ocean more navigable for cargo ships, at least if icebreakers led the way by cutting a...
- Reduced ice levels also mean that oil and gas fields beneath the Arctic are more accessible.
As President Donald Trump continues to insist that the US needs to own Greenland, his wider focus on the Arctic region has seen Washington order new icebreakers.For these ships, which can sail through seas covered in solid ice, the US has gone to the world expert – Finland.
Temperatures are sub-zero inside Aker arctic Technology’s ice laboratory, as the scale model of an icebreaker cruises down a 70m-long simulation tank.
It ploughs a neat channel through the“`html
Adrienne Murray