Seaspan Shipyards held a ceremonial keel laying on 14 Oct 2026 for CCGS Imnaryuaq, the Canadian Coast Guard's future flagship polar icebreaker, at its Vancouver Shipyards facility in North Vancouver. The 158-meter vessel, with a 28-meter beam and design displacement of 26,036 tonnes, will be the largest and most powerful icebreaker ever built in Canada. First steel was cut in April 2025, with delivery expected in the early 2030s. Imnaryuaq will feature 47 MW of installed power and a diesel-electric propulsion plant driving an ice-classed azimuthing propulsion system, built to IACS Polar Class 2 standards for operation in severe Arctic ice conditions. Beyond icebreaking, the vessel is designed as a multi-mission platform supporting Arctic scientific research, maritime emergency response, search and rescue, and logistics for northern communities. It will accommodate up to 100 personnel and include scientific laboratories, a moon pool, a helicopter flight deck and hangar, a vehicle garage, and provisions for future remotely piloted aircraft systems. John McCarthy, CEO of Seaspan Shipyards, said the company was proud to showcase its workforce's engineering and welding capabilities for Arctic conditions. Imnaryuaq is the seventh vessel Seaspan is building under Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy, which also includes up to 16 Multi-Purpose Icebreakers. Seaspan has invested more than $200 million in facility upgrades, and its supply chain now spans over 800 Canadian companies with more than $3 billion in awarded contracts. The vessel is intended to support a sustained, year-round Canadian maritime presence across more than 162,000 kilometers of Arctic coastline.
