Helsinki Shipyard has built up a Turku design office with more than 40 professionals in less than two years, after setting it up in 2024. The office now handles machinery, HVAC, electrical, interior, hull and deck outfitting work for the yard’s projects, while the wider design organisation totals around 160 people.
Sata Shipbuilding has started construction of the first Arctic Security Cutter icebreaker for the United States Coast Guard in Pori. The first two vessels in the five-ship program will be built at Helsinki Shipyard with Sata support, with delivery of the first ship due in 2028.
Hull assembly has begun in Helsinki for Polar Max, the Canadian icebreaker commissioned by the Government of Canada. The vessel started construction in August 2025 and will have its completed hull finished at Davie Shipbuilding’s yard in Québec in 2030.
Davie Defense has won a U.S. Coast Guard contract to build five Arctic Security Cutters, with two of the vessels to be built in Finland at Helsinki Shipyard. The program is part of a plan for up to 11 cutters, and the first is due in 2028.
Helsinki Shipyard will be one of the main partners of the Lux Helsinki light art festival this winter, using the event to spotlight the Polar Max icebreaker now under construction for the Canadian Coast Guard. The 2026 festival’s largest artwork, Rooms of Light, will feature the shipyard’s Hietalahti cranes, while steel block construction on Polar Max began in the summer in Helsinki and at Davie’s SATA Shipbuilding in the autumn.
ABB has secured a contract to supply the complete electric power and propulsion package for Polar Max, the new 22,800-tonne icebreaker being built for the Canadian Coast Guard. The vessel is being constructed by Helsinki Shipyard in Finland and Davie Shipbuilding in Quebec and is expected to enter service by 2030.