Page 63: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2025)

ICE PACT COUNTRIES & NATO ALLIES shipping channels in Gulf of Bothnia open for naviga- tion. The northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia traditionally freezes from January to June.

Sweden operates a ? eet of six aging Baltic icebreakers with an average age of ~45 years, re? ecting a potential future weakness without a large ? eet renewal.

Aker Arctic is currently developing the design for two

A-Class Aker ARC 130 methanol-ready Bay of Bothnia icebreakers to be built for the Swedish Maritime Agency, initially planned to be delivered by 2027. There is cur- rently no update on the construction status of the vessels.

The project secured €30 million in European Union Winter

Navigation Motorways of the Sea III funding to support the project.

Denmark

Denmark currently operates two Knud Rasmussen Class ice resistant Arctic security vessels, which patrol the waters of Greenland, where the vessels are capable of breaking the commonly found 40-centimeter sea ice in southern Green- land and 70-centimeter fjord ice, which is insuf? cient for deal with the Arctic ice developing farther north in Green- land. In a sign of strengthening Arctic security around

Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Denmark announced a $4.3 billion Arctic and North Atlantic defense spending package in October 2025 which includes the acquisition of two new Arctic ships (initially identi? ed as three in the 2025 Danish Navy plan to acquire new ves- sels), although no speci? cations are currently available.

Speaking to the Danish public broadcaster DR, the Chief of Defense, Michael Hyldgarrd, re? ected the increase in

Arctic and North Atlantic security missions by saying, “the task of the Armed Forces is to ensure security throughout the Kingdom - and, if necessary, to defend Greenland, the

Faroe Islands and Denmark within the framework of Nato in all domains”.

Iceland

Iceland currently has no Polar class icebreakers and has a strategy that appears to rely on NATO allies.

Norway

Norway has surveillance and research interests in the Arc- tic, currently undertaken by one Polar Class research vessel (Kronprins Haakon) and an Aric Patrol vessel (Svalbard).

Swedish company Viking Supply Ships’ PC6 and PC7 icebreaking anchor handling tugs are managed by Norway’s

Sea1 and ? y the Norwegian ? ag. The vessels generally operate in the short-term charter market oil & gas, offshore wind and ice management market.

Norway also charters vessels to conduct icebreaking

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