MacGregor has been awarded the contract to supply the deck machinery and cargo handling equipment for the US Coast Guard’s next-generation Polar Security Cutter.
MacGregor, part of Cargotec, received the order from VT Halter Marine, the prime contractor in the PSC program.
For its part, MacGregor will provide the anchor windlass, mooring winches and capstans, main towing winch, offshore cranes, oceanographic winch, hanger overhead crane and cargo access equipment. The contract also provides for two further options for delivery to a second PSC in 2025, and third vessel in late 2027.
The order is booked into Cargotec’s fourth quarter 2019 order intake, with delivery planned to take place in Q3 2021.
“We are delighted to have been selected to supply the deck machinery and cargo handling solution for the Polar Security Cutter programme, with this important contract being testimony to MacGregor’s extensive experience in supplying polar icebreakers globally and our leading position in the supply and support of such solutions for naval logistic vessels,” says Leif Byström, Head of Offshore Solutions Division, MacGregor.
The Polar Security Cutter is planned to replace the United States Coast Guard’s aging fleet of polar icebreakers, which has dwindled to only one operational polar icebreaker – USCGC Polar Star.
The new PSC will be able to provide accommodation for 186 crew and scientists, with a capability to break through two meters of ice and operate for 80 days without replenishment.
In May 2019, VT Halter Marine named as the prime contractor in the Department of the Navy’s $745,940,860 fixed-price incentive-firm contract for the first PSC. The contract includes two options which, if exercised, would bring the total amount to approximately $1.9 billion.
The first ship is scheduled for delivery in 2024, followed by the second in 2025, and the last delivering in early 2027.
