The US will finish a new icebreaker this year, unfortunately it is not for the Coast Guard.
Marinelink.com reports the icebreaker M/V Aiviq,
“…contracted by Shell Oil to support drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, is scheduled to be completed by Louisiana-based Edison Chouest Offshore in early 2012. The vessel, ordered in July 2009, is on track for April 1, 2012, delivery in Galliano, La., and will then head north, according to Shell Oil spokesman Curtis Smith.”
“The vessel is being built to International Maritime Organization’s Polar Code 3, and measures 111.8 m long, with a 22-m beam and 22-m draft. “It has hybrid generators, noise-reduction equipment, and meets or exceeds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 4 emission standards,” Smith said. The Aiviq can hold thousands of barrels of oil. And because it will be stationed far from medical facilities, the vessel will have a hospital on board.”
(Thanks to Lee Wahler for the heads up.)
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
Another perspective here:
http://securitydebrief.com/2012/01/18/need-an-icebreaker-the-coast-guard-does/
“. . . can slash through a meter of ice with 20 centimeters of snow at 5 knots” I’d love to see that!
I hope they hurry up and get that oil too, I’m tired of paying of $3 a gallon for gas!
That?
That looks like one of the Tug-barges on the Great Lakes.
I thought it looked more like a typical oil industry support ship.
I also doubt that the draft is 22 meters. I saw elsewhere that it is 29 feet.
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