US-based Bollinger Shipyards and shipowner Edison Chouest Offshore will come together to form a partnership, United Shipbuilding Alliance, to build icebreaking vessels.
It will focus on accelerating the design, construction and delivery of the next generation of icebreaking vessels, “to directly meet urgent Arctic operational needs”, Bollinger said.
Together, the Bollinger and Edison Chouest alliance will have access to 6,000-plus skilled US workers and 33 operational shipyard and fabrication facilities across the Gulf of Mexico.
Outlining the alliance’s initial success, Bollinger said it had responded to the US Coast Guard’s 11 April request for information on Arctic security cutters.
The alliance’s response outlined the use of a commercial vessel for national security purposes, in an acquisition process that spans 33 months from contract award to delivery.
This resulted in the “recent acquisition of the USCGC Storis”, a US-built icebreaker designed for Arctic conditions and delivered in under three years.
“The proposed commercial acquisition method will save US taxpayers more than 40% by reducing and eliminating excess programme bloat, government vendor source selection mandates and redundant bureaucratic reporting mandates,” Bollinger claimed.
In all, both companies have built and delivered four icebreakers in the past 30 year and Bollinger is constructing the polar security cutter (PSC) programme for the US Coast Guard.
Just last week, Bollinger said it had received approval from the Coast Guard to begin full production activities on the PSC programme, underscoring the confidence the US Government placed in Bollinger to deliver the nation’s first heavy polar icebreaker in nearly 50 years.
Bollinger took over the struggling PSC programme in late 2022 when it acquired the Singapore-owned VT Halter, which had amassed more than $250m in losses over the first three years of the scheme.
“If the mission demands speed, efficiency, and innovation, the answer is clear, let American industry lead,” Bollinger Shipyards president and CEO Ben Bordelon said.
“The formation of the United Shipbuilding Alliance comes at a pivotal moment and answers US President Donald Trump’s call to action in making American Shipbuilding great again.”
Bollinger has delivered more than 180 vessels for the US Coast Guard in over 40 years of building for the US government.
Since taking office earlier this year, Trump has made a restoration of the country’s shipbuilding industry a major priority and launched measures to crack down on global market leader China.
