gCaptain and MarineLog are reporting a very odd icebreaker concept developed by Finland’s Aker Arctic. I think it may be worth reading both, since their emphasis is a bit different.

You look at it and the ship is very much asymmetrical. Unlike other icebreakers, which break a channel little larger than the beam of the ship, this design is intended to break a wider channel by orienting the ship obliquely relative to the direction of movement. The gCaptain article illustrates this best. They also plan to use this oblique orientation to sweep up pollutants.

The Aker Arctic concept is intended for breaking first year ice rather than multi-year Arctic ice. It is a medium size ship, 98m long, 3200tons, much closer to the Mackinaw than the projected polar icebreaker.  This concept is probably not applicable to the new polar icebreaker, but it might be useful for a USCGC Katmai Bay (WTGB-101) Class replacement, since it would allow a single relatively small ship to clear a channel for much larger ships.