The Coast Guard’s lone heavy polar icebreaker on Monday reached the U.S. science station in Antarctica, breaking and grooming a 37-mile channel of ice to allow resupply of the facility to allow fuel and resupply ships to reach the facilities.
The 399-foot Polar Star departed its homeport of Seattle on Nov. 13, 2021, and reached the Ross Sea in Antarctica on Jan. 3 to begin ice breaking operations to McMurdo Station. Two supply ships, the Maersk Peary and Ocean Giant, will bring over 8 million gallons of fuel and 1,000 cargo containers to last a year for the station.
“This team brought renewed energy and passion to this 46-year-old ship, and overcame significant challenges to deliver exceptional results,” Capt. William Woityra, commanding officer of the Polar Star, said in a statement.
The icebreaker typically visits McMurdo annually but in 2021 the ship conducted operations in the Arctic due to COVID precautions that led to a limited aerial resupply of the National Science Foundation-led Antarctic science operations.
In addition to breaking ice to McMurdo, Polar Star will partner with the Royal New Zealand Navy’s Aotearoa to support the resupply of Scott Base, which is New Zealand’s Antarctic research center.
During its transit to Antarctica, the Polar Star made stops in Wellington and Lyttelton, New Zealand, engaging with the Royal New Zealand Navy and the U.S. embassy.
The Polar Star is undergoing a series of annual service life extensions to keep it operating until later this decade. The Coast Guard has begun a heavy icebreaker replacement program called the polar security cutter (PSC), with the first ship expected to be delivered in 2025, and will be followed by two more ships.
Halter Marine is building the PSCs.