China is rapidly expanding its Arctic-capable fleet, marking a significant milestone this summer by deploying three icebreaking vessels to the region for the first time. Icebreaker to the Arctic.
In contrast, the U.S. faces a prolonged absence from the Arctic, likely extending through the rest of the year or beyond. After a fire aboard the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy last month, the ship was forced to cut short its Arctic patrol and return to its homeport in Seattle, operating on just one engine. The only other U.S. icebreaker, the Polar Star, remains in dry dock as efforts continue to extend the service life of the 55-year-old vessel.
China’s most advanced icebreaking research vessel, Xue Long 2, embarked on a months-long expedition in early July. Comparable in size and capability to Healy, the vessel passed through the Bering Strait a few weeks later and spent over two weeks in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, north of Alaska, before continuing into the Central Arctic Ocean.
Another icebreaker, Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, operated by Sun Yat-sen University, set out on a similar route at the end of July. It is currently located 200 nautical miles away from Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow, in the Beaufort Sea.
China's newest Arctic icebreaker, Ji Di, commissioned in June, left Qingdao on 5 August, also bound for the Arctic. It recently reached the Bering Strait and is currently operating west of Nome, Alaska.
Earlier, The Arctic Century reacted to Ji Di’s construction and wrote about the Chinese strategy for producing icebreakers, which focuses on constructing smaller research vessels and gaining experience in the field.
Additionally, the icebreaking research vessel Tan Suo San Hao, launched earlier this year, will join China’s Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering under the Chinese Academy of Sciences early next year.
Chinese shipyards have been constructing icebreaking research vessels at an impressive pace, though they are smaller in size than the much-delayed U.S. Polar Security Cutter. The construction of Ji Di and Tan Suo San Hao took only about two years from the initial steel-cutting to completion, while the larger Xue Long 2, China’s first domestically built polar icebreaker, was completed in 2019 in under three years.
Source: The Arctic Century
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