We Need More Icebreakers
Plus, yet another obscure intergovernmental organization to follow.
When it comes to the ocean economy, no matter how obscure the subject it creeps into mainstream media sometime shortly after I take a glimpse inside. I assume the algorithms are feeding me signals, but sometimes that isn’t the case.
It’s just that ocean topics are becoming THE topics.
A perfect example happened the other night as I was scrolling news before bed. As we all know, this is the best way to put the mind at ease in preparation for restful sleep.
I spotted this story on my WSJ app:
+America’s military trails Russia and China in race for the melting Arctic - WSJ
It was the following subtitle reeled me in but also made me shake my head and laugh a bit:
“U.S. is competing with a partnership between the two countries but has fewer icebreakers and ports, and less experience.”
Ironically, a book I checked out of my local library last week discussed this need for more icebreakers. I assume the good folks at the Boulder Public Library aren’t monetizing my data.
But, hey, who knows…
I had even started an entry in my article to-do list vaguely titled “Icebreakers” with a few notes from the book and some light research into companies in this space.
I mean, who builds icebreakers?
But first, let’s back up and talk about this library book.
Sea Power - The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans
I found the book Sea Power (2017) by Admiral James Stavridis while searching random keyword combinations related to oceans, economics, and geopolitics at my local library. I’m sure you also do this all the time.
From the bio on the book’s jacket:
Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.) is a graduate of the US Naval Academy who spent more than thirty-five years on active service in the navy. He commanded destroyers and a carrier strike group in combat and served for seven years as a four-star admiral, including nearly four years as the first Navy officer chosen as Supreme Allied Commander for Global Operations at NATO. After retiring from the navy, he was named the dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (2013-2018).
It is hard to think of anyone who embodies the confluence of the ocean economy and geopolitics more than Admiral Stavridis. I’ll admit it was a bit of a random find. Still, the book didn’t disappoint as an overview of the current geopolitical tensions facing our ocean economy. Clearly, it was written to be engaging and digestible by a wider audience than just other retired Navy officers.
In Sea Power, Stavridis’ grasp of naval history brings perspective to our current challenges while his first-hand experiences of a career at sea breathe life (or salt air) into stories about some hard-to-imagine places. The correlations he draws are much more poignant, knowing that he had seen it with his own eyes.
Each chapter in Sea Power takes an ocean or sea and weaves accounts of what he saw with the history of conflicts fought (or being fought) in those same waters. Layered on top is some foreshadowing of events that will likely play out on our seas in the future. So with this book still sitting on my desk, it was easy to turn to Chapter 7, The Arctic Ocean: Promise and Peril, and revisit the text in light of the WSJ article.
In this chapter, Admiral Stavridis outlines his thoughts on what the U.S. needs to do about the evolving physical and geopolitical landscape of the Arctic. Building more icebreakers is one of the main points he brings up.
A couple of other key points are more diplomatic in nature - maintaining a leadership role in the Arctic Council and keeping an open dialogue with Russia.
Wait, Arctic Council? I’ll revisit this later.
About Those Icebreakers
…if we are going to take advantage of the reduced shipping distances, move our oil and gas offshore structures, and support everything from science diplomacy to responsible tourism, we simply need more icebreakers - this is the path to credibility in the Arctic.
~ Sea Power
We often hear about the buildup of the Chinese navy, now the world’s largest, because it has been so rapid. There are also plenty of headlines about activities in the South China Sea to keep China top of mind.
Even with the war in Ukraine raging for over a year now, we don’t hear much about Russia’s navy. (How Ukraine has neutralized Russia’s naval superiority in the Black Sea was mentioned in this recent post).
Regarding Russia’s forces in the Arctic, it isn’t news because it isn’t new. These assets have always existed, but, like all things ocean, we are beginning to care more. However, these forces are well-established and formidable.
Conversely, as the WSJ article points out:
“Today, the U.S. doesn’t have an icebreaker assigned to the Arctic year-round. The Healy, a 16,000-ton diesel behemoth, is the Coast Guard’s longest and biggest ship, but it goes for refitting every winter in Washington state or California.”
Our other icebreaker is assigned to resupplying scientists in Antarctica.
That’s it.
The U.S. has two old, non-military icebreakers. Russia has thirty-six.
We’re working on a third, but it’s not going well.
“A joint Navy and Coast Guard program to build more armed and modern icebreakers has been delayed. At the shipyard in Mississippi, a lack of local skilled labor and the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the international design process has caused the builder, Halter Marine, now owned by Bollinger Shipyards, to miss deadlines on the first icebreaker, which will cost $1 billion.”
Drone boats and $500 million Coast Guard cutters last week. Billion-dollar icebreakers this week. These line items barely get a mention in the press but are in competition for limited available dollars. Building these assets will require investing in a mix of old skills and new tech at a national level.
The U.S. Arctic Assets
Aside from our role as global watchdog, why does the U.S. care about what’s happening in the Arctic?
The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) surrounding Alaska is huge and extremely productive. Stavridis points out that 50% of U.S. fish stocks come from the EEZ off the coast of Alaska.
But these isolated areas aren’t only difficult for emerging nations to monitor and police.
“The Russian and Chinese ships, which were on a joint exercise, sailed north and east into U.S. waters, sending an unmistakable message about the region’s strategic value to Moscow and Beijing, according to U.S. military officials and national security experts.”
~ WSJ
This activity is a big deal. But remember how much more attention that balloon got last February? Whether this will bring attention to activities in the area and our compromised ability to respond to them is still in question.
I didn’t know I was going to become a military analyst as part of my deep dive into the ocean economy, but I did understand that ocean monitoring and security were going to be a growing industry. So it makes sense that military investment will be affected as well.
The Arctic Council
Last week, I wrote about how obscure nations and international governing bodies will get their time in the spotlight. Well, just when you were figuring out what the International Seabed Authority is, I introduced the Norway-based Arctic Council.
According to their website:
“The Arctic Council is the leading intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the Arctic States, Arctic Indigenous peoples, and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular on issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic. It was formally established in 1996.
All Arctic Council decisions and statements require consensus of the eight Arctic States.”
Arctic Council members include eight states with territory within the Arctic. These nations include Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the U.S., and Russia.
The council also includes six “Permanent Participants” representing indigenous peoples in the Arctic.
In May of this year, Norway assumed the chairship of the council and will hold that position for two years.
The articles below highlight the type of research the council conducts, but it is probably more important at this point as a place where these countries can hopefully come together and talk.
+Blue Bioeconomy in the Arctic