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Ice busting ship preps for trip amid push to replace fleet
Demand for icebreaking ships is expected to grow as climate change melts sea ice.
Audrey McAvoy, The Associated Press on December 15, 2016
The only U.S. ship capable of breaking through Antarctica’s thick ice is getting scrubbed down, fixed up and loaded with goods in balmy Hawaii this week as it prepares to head to the frigid south.
The voyage by Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star comes as the U.S. looks to replace and expand its aging fleet of polar icebreakers so it can maintain a presence in the most remote corners of the world. The demand for icebreaking ships is expected to grow as climate change melts sea ice and lures more traffic to northern Arctic waters.
“The spectre in the future is more marine use in the Arctic, more shipping, more offshore development, more tourism,” said Lawson Brigham, a professor of geography and Arctic policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The Coast Guard needs to be able to enforce U.S. laws as well as search for and rescue people in the Arctic like it does in other waters, Brigham said. Though sea ice is melting faster than before, the Arctic Ocean is fully or partially covered by ice for about three-quarters of the year.
The Seattle-based ship has stopped in Pearl Harbor to stock up on food and fuel. It was scheduled to leave Monday to carve a channel through 30 miles of ice in Antarctica so ships can resupply a U.S. research centre, but it was delayed by last-minute repairs.
The Polar Star specializes in the Antarctic mission because it can handle the thicker ice, leaving the jobs in the Arctic to a medium icebreaker called the Cutter Healy.
The 40-year-old Polar Star was built to last only three decades of grinding through thick sheets of ice. It forces its way through by riding up on ice and crushing it. When it can’t break through, it backs up and rams the ice.
Brigham, a retired Coast Guard captain who commanded a heavy icebreaker in the Arctic and Antarctic in the 1990s, said policymakers have debated boosting the icebreaker fleet for decades. Climate change adds a new element to the discussion.
More cargo ships already have been taking Arctic routes as the planet warms. Last summer, a luxury cruise liner sailed to Nome, Alaska, then farther north to become the largest ship to ever traverse the Northwest Passage. Melting ice also will attract those seeking to extract oil, metals and other natural resources.
Ice busting ship preps for trip amid push to replace fleet
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