The once impenetrable Arctic Ocean has become the latest battleground for sea control between warships and maritime vessels, as increased activity by Chinese and Russian coast guard and naval vessels in recent months has raised concerns in the United States.
The Northwest Passage extends north of Canada and connects the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic Ocean, saving approximately 4,500 nautical miles in transit time. This will cut sailing times in half for ships from the Far East to Europe and from Russia to Europe, saving both time and money on bunker fuel. Rising temperatures have extended the sailing season for ships plying the waterway, with polar icebreakers carving icy routes and Russian and Chinese icebreakers dominating the region.
More than 1,800 ships will sail the Arctic Polar Waterway in 2025, an increase of 40 percent from 2013. In 2025, China will complete 14 voyages, including the first container ship to sail the waterway, the Cosco Container Ship.
“From an economic and commercial perspective, it makes sense for shippers to be interested in developing the area to save time,” said Aaron Ross, principal and head of federal strategy and security at Chertoff Group.
Russia has a fleet of 45 icebreakers in the polar regions, including eight nuclear-powered vessels. China reportedly has three nuclear-powered polar icebreakers under construction. The United States currently has three icebreakers, one of which is 50 years old.
People attend the launching ceremony of the nuclear-powered icebreaker Yakut at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, Russia, November 22, 2020.
Olga Maltseva | AFP | Getty Images
“The reason we’re so far behind in the race to the Arctic and to icebreakers is because we’re basically funding the U.S. Coast Guard,” said Lou Sola, former federal maritime commissioner and partner at lobbying firm Thorne Run Partners. “The Coast Guard is struggling with maintenance issues and trying to make sure they have adequate supplies. They are resorting to cannibalizing parts of one ship with another ship in order to keep their ships operational. As a result, there is significant damage to shipbuilding as a whole, especially icebreakers,” he said.
President Donald Trump is increasing attention to domestic shipbuilding programs, including polar icebreakers. But Trump is not alone in his concerns about activities in the Arctic, with NATO’s European commander also citing Russia and China’s growing presence in the Arctic as a threat.
Maritime officials stress that increased activity in the Arctic is a national security issue and that the United States is considered an Arctic nation.
“These Arctic Patrol cutters provided by the Coast Guard Building will provide us with sovereignty, freedom of navigation, capabilities and capabilities in the Arctic that we currently do not have,” Ross said. “We never want them to have an advantage in high northern locations,” he added.
This concern overlaps with President Trump’s other national security ambitions. In early 2026, President Trump declared that he wanted Greenland for national security purposes.
There are two Arctic routes ships can take near Greenland.
The Northwest Passage connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, passing through the Canadian Arctic to the Baffin Sea, where ships approach Greenland, and then south of Greenland in the North Atlantic to the United Kingdom.
The Northeast Passage connects Europe and Asia along Russia’s northern coast. Some ships on this route also sail close to Greenland.
“I think it’s in our long-term interest to keep our relationships strong with Canadians, with Greenland, with Denmark, with Scandinavia, and also protect our interests in the region,” Ross said.
Arctic activities bring China and Russia closer together
The funding shortfall comes as China and Russia’s coast guards strengthen ties. The recent trade deal between China and Canada is a related concern for the United States, and “certainly geopolitics is at play,” Ross said.
Russia’s access to the region is also vital to the United States.
“One of the most important things to emphasize about the trade route north of Canada is that it is the closest distance for Russia to move strategically and militarily,” Ross said. “The shortest distance between Russia and the United States is through that mountain pass. You can go through Greenland to the United Kingdom. So strategically, from a surveillance perspective, it’s very valuable for the United States to understand what’s going on in that region,” he said.
Arctic cooperation between China and Russia began with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in April 2023, under which the coast guards of both countries will work together to develop trade routes. Last October, Russia and China signed a wide-ranging agreement to jointly develop the Northern Sea Route, which China calls the “Polar Silk Road.”
“If we were to end up in a future conflict with Russia or China or even North Korea, the shortest route from those countries to the United States would be through the Great Circle route over Greenland,” Ross said. “It’s clear that the need for surveillance and the ability to intercept missiles is critical. This is fundamentally about protecting the United States and protecting the Golden Dome that the president is trying to do.”
How President Trump and the United States are trying to revive the shipbuilding industry
President Trump announced a 2025 shipbuilding plan for commercial ships and polar icebreakers. The second executive order, the Maritime Action Plan, further strengthened the administration’s ambitions to revitalize the U.S. maritime industry, increase production capacity, and counter Chinese domination. Approximately $30 billion has been allocated. From that funding, 11 new Arctic Guard cutters will be built.
Medium-sized icebreakers that provide winter access to waterways along coastal waters from Maine to Virginia, the Great Lakes and the northeastern United States to the Mid-Atlantic, including the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay, are also reaching the end of their useful lives.
The U.S. Coast Guard recently announced a new program to acquire 11 medium-sized icebreakers.
One of the companies building some of these vessels is Canada-based Davie Defense, which completed its acquisition of Gulf Cooper’s shipbuilding assets in Texas last December. The new American company is one of four companies recently awarded shipbuilding contracts. In addition to Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards, Finland-based Rauma Marine Constructions and Aaker Arctic Technologies are also participating in the shipbuilding program.
Davie Defense Gulf Copper will build five polar icebreakers for the United States, the first two of which will be built in Finland, and the company will spend $700 million to $1 billion to renovate its shipyards in Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas. Shipyards have continued to build ships since World War II.
“The infrastructure itself is a little tired and a little bit dilapidated,” said Kai Skvara, CEO of Davie Defense and Gulf Copper.
Planned upgrades to our facilities and physical infrastructure include automated cutting and welding machines to increase efficiency. It also includes efforts to support future workforce productivity and produce cost-competitive products. Renovation work is expected to take approximately two years.
Skvara said the restart of the Texas plant should coincide with the delivery of the first two polar icebreakers the company is building in Helsinki, Finland. The third polar icebreaker to be built in Texas will enter production in 2028 and take 48 months to build (scheduled for delivery in 2032). Deliveries on subsequent vessels from Texas are scheduled for 2033 and 2034.
To meet the ambitious deadline, the company plans to significantly increase its U.S. workforce from its current 300 employees and add more than 2,000 additional employees. Once the American workers are hired, they will be sent to Finland and enrolled in an apprenticeship program where they will study and work at a Finnish shipyard in Helsinki. This job training is similar to the workforce strategy of Hanwha Philadelphia Shipyard, another major player in the effort to bring shipbuilding back to the United States. Hanwha Philadelphia Shipyard has an apprenticeship shipbuilding program that sends employees to South Korea to work at parent company Hanwha Marine Shipyards, where one ship is built per week.
Watch the video above to learn more about the escalating battle for control of the Arctic waterway.
