The once impenetrable Arctic waters have become the latest battleground for maritime dominance between military and naval vessels, as increased activity by both Chinese and Russian coast guard and naval vessels in recent months has raised concerns in the US.
The Northwest Passage, a sea route north of Canada that connects the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic, could save about 4,500 nautical miles in transit time. This could halve ship journeys from the Far East to Europe and from Russia to Europe, saving both time and money on bunker fuel. Warmer temperatures have extended the travel season for ships passing through this waterway, with frozen routes maintained by polar icebreakers and Russian and Chinese icebreakers dominating the region.
More than 1,800 ships could travel on the Arctic Polar Waterway in 2025, a 40 percent increase from 2013. In 2025, China completed 14 voyages, including the Cosco containership, which was the first containership to travel via the waterway.
“From an economic and commercial perspective, it makes sense for shippers to be interested in growth in that area to save time,” said Aaron Roth, principal of the Chertoff Group and head of federal strategy and security.
Russia has a fleet of 45 icebreakers in the polar region, including eight nuclear-powered ships. China has three nuclear-powered polar icebreakers Allegedly Under construction. The US currently has three icebreakers, but one of them is 50 years old.
People attend the float out ceremony of the nuclear-powered ice-breaker Yakutia at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 22, 2020.
Olga Maltseva AFP | getty images
“The reason we’ve fallen so far behind in the Arctic or icebreaker race is basically how the United States Coast Guard is funded,” said Lou Sola, former chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission and partner at the lobbying firm Thorn Run Partners. “The Coast Guard is troubled with maintenance issues and trying to get proper supplies. They are resorting to dismantling one ship to use parts of one ship on another so they can have an operational ship. As a result, overall shipbuilding has really been impacted. Especially icebreakers,” he said.
President Donald Trump has focused on domestic shipbuilding initiatives, including polar icebreakers. But Trump is not alone with his concerns about Arctic activity, with NATO’s European commander citing Growing presence of Russia and China As a threat in the Arctic.
Maritime officials say increased Arctic activity is a national security issue and emphasize that the U.S. is considered an Arctic nation.
“These Arctic security cutters that the Coast Guard is building will provide sovereignty, freedom of navigation and capacity and capability in that area that we don’t currently have,” Roth said. “We certainly don’t want them to have an advantage in places up north,” he said.
These concerns align with Trump’s other national security ambitions. In early 2026, Trump announced he wanted Greenland for national security.
A ship can pass through Greenland via two Arctic routes.
The Northwest Passage connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Canadian Arctic to the Baffin Sea, bringing ships close to Greenland, then across the North Atlantic to the United Kingdom, south of Greenland.
The Northeast Passage connects Europe and Asia to the northern coasts of Russia. Ships also travel on this route close to Greenland.
“I think over time it will be in our best interest to make sure that our relationships with Canada, Greenland, Denmark and Northern Europe remain strong, so that we can protect our interests in that region as well,” Roth said.
China and Russia grow closer in Arctic efforts
The funding shortfall comes at a time when the Chinese and Russian coast guards are tightening their ties. “China’s recent trade deals with Canada are of concern to the U.S.,” Roth said. “There’s definitely geopolitics at play here.”
Russia’s reach in this region is also very important for America
“One of the most important things to highlight about those trade routes north of Canada is that this is the closest distance for Russia to travel strategically and militarily,” Roth said. He said, “The shortest distance between Russia and the United States is through that pass. It takes you to Greenland, the United Kingdom. So strategically, understanding what’s happening in that region is incredibly valuable for the United States from a surveillance standpoint.”
China and Russia’s Arctic alignment started with the signing of an agreement Memorandum of understanding In April 2023, the coast guards of both countries were working together to create a trade route. Last October, Russia and China signed another far-reaching agreement to jointly develop the Arctic route, which China calls the Polar Silk Road.
“In the future, if we had to have a conflict with Russia or China or even North Korea, the shortest distance from those countries to the United States would be through that great circle route over Greenland to the United States,” Roth said. “So clearly, the surveillance needs and the ability to intercept those missiles are critical. It’s basically protecting the United States and the Golden Dome, the president is trying to do that.”
How Trump and the US are planning to bring back shipbuilding
President Trump announced a 2025 shipbuilding initiative for commercial ships and polar icebreakers. A second executive order, Marine Action Plan, Doubled down on the administration’s ambitions to revitalize the US maritime industry, increase capacity, and counter Chinese dominance. About $30 billion was allocated. 11 new ones from that money arctic security cutter is to be constructed.
The medium-sized icebreakers that make the waterways accessible during the winter in the Great Lakes and the coastal waters of the northeast and mid-Atlantic U.S., from Maine to Virginia, including the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay, are also at the end of their service lives.
US Coast Guard Recently a new program was announced to acquire 11 medium-sized icebreakers.
One of the companies building some of these ships is Canada-based Davy Defence, which closed the acquisition of Gulf Cooper’s shipbuilding assets in Texas last December. The new American company is one of four Recent Shipbuilding Contracts. Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards, along with Finland-based Rauma Marine Construction and Aker Arctic Technologies, are also involved in the shipbuilding program.
Davy Defense will build a total of five polar icebreakers for Gulf Copper America. The first two will be built in Finland, while the company will spend between $700 million and $1 billion to renovate shipyards in the ports of Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas. The shipyards have been in operation since World War II, when they built ships.
“The infrastructure itself is a little tired, a little worn out,” said Kai Skvarla, CEO of Dewey Defense and Gulf Copper.
Planned upgrades to the facilities and physical infrastructure include automated cutting and welding machines to increase efficiency, as well as efforts to support future workforce productivity and manufacture cost-competitive products. The renovation is expected to take approximately two years.
Skvarla said the reopening of the Texas plants should coincide with the delivery of the first two polar icebreakers the company is building in Helsinki, Finland. The third polar icebreaker, built in Texas, will enter production in 2028 and will take 48 months to build (delivered in 2032). Deliveries on ships coming from Texas will take place in 2033 and 2034.
To meet the ambitious deadline, the company plans to significantly increase its US headcount from its current 300 employees and add over 2,000 employees. Once American workers are hired, they will be enrolled in an apprenticeship program that sends them to Finland to learn and work with Finnish shipbuilders in Helsinki. This job training is similar to the workforce strategy for Hanwha Philly Shipyard, another major player in efforts to bring shipbuilding back to the U.S. Hanwha Philly has an apprenticeship shipbuilding program that sends employees to South Korea to work at the parent company’s Hanwha Shipping shipyard, where one ship is built per week.
Watch the video above to learn more about the intensifying battle for control of Arctic waterways.
