Yahoo Finance Rich Smith, The Motley Fool,March 20, 2018
For at least the last four years, the U.S. Coast Guard has been talking about why it needs new icebreakers for its fleet. (Short answer: They have only two in operation today, down 75% from the fleet's size at the end of the Cold War -- and with the ice in the Arctic Ocean melting, there's never been a greater need for icebreakers to assist in navigating it). Now, at long last, it looks like the Coast Guard is going to get the icebreakers it needs.
Or one of them, at least.
When you absolutely, positively have to reach the North Pole, who you gonna call? Icebreakers!
A story years in the making
President Obama's pledge to accelerate the process of getting the Coast Guard a new icebreaker back in 2015 helped to catalyze the acquisition process, moving up the estimated time of arrival of the new ship to 2020.
Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul F. Zukunft argues that new icebreakers are necessary "to advance U.S. interests and to keep pace with the growing volume of commercial activities in the polar regions."
More:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coast-guard-taking-bids-first-111700944.html
