LÉVIS, QC – Davie today announced the launch of construction of the Polar Max, Canada’s next–generation polar icebreaker, at its shipyard in Lévis. This milestone marks a historic moment for Canadian shipbuilding and a major step forward in delivering Canada’s next polar icebreaker under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS).
Once delivered in 2030, the Polar Max will be one of the most powerful and capable conventional heavy icebreakers in the world. The ship will enable the Canadian Coast Guard to maintain a sustained, year–round presence in the Arctic, supporting sovereignty operations, scientific research, environmental protection, and essential resupply missions to northern communities in some of the harshest maritime conditions on the planet.
Construction is now underway in Lévis, supported by Davie’s rapidly growing workforce. This phase of the project is expected to generate more than a thousand high-value jobs in Lévis, across Québec, and throughout Canada’s marine industry, with hundreds of skilled positions to be filled at Davie as work ramps up.
From the East Coast to the West Coast, dozens of Canadian companies within Davie’s extensive national supplier network have already begun contributing to the Polar Max program, even before construction officially started in Lévis. These include Algoma Steel (Ontario), which produced the Canadian-made steel now being used to assemble the vessel’s superstructure; Hawboldt Industries (Nova Scotia), which will supply advanced marine equipment; Échafauds Plus (Québec), supporting Davie by ensuring safe access to the superstructure and protecting it from the elements; and Gregg’s Marine Interiors (British Columbia), supporting Groupe ALMACO Inc. (Québec) in the assembly of the mock-up cabins presented at today’s event. Together with numerous Canadian-based specialized technical support firms, distributors, and logistics providers, these companies are collectively creating and sustaining jobs across the country.
Davie has committed to investing more than $200 million in Canadian small- and medium–sized businesses, strengthening domestic industrial capabilities while boosting the shipbuilding sector’s export potential. This investment strategy, announced in 2025, aligns closely with Canada’s 2026 Defence Industrial Strategy, which emphasizes growing national industrial capacity and enhancing international competitiveness.
Awarded to Davie in March 2025 under a fixed-price contract, the Polar Max is progressing at a pace not seen in Canadian shipbuilding for generations, thanks to close collaboration between Davie, Helsinki Shipyard, and the Canadian Coast Guard. The dual-build approach will allow Canada to receive this much-needed vessel on a significantly compressed schedule, while maximizing the volume of work performed in Canada and keeping Davie’s broader NSS order book fully on track. This model enables construction to advance simultaneously in Canada and Finland, accelerating delivery timelines by several years while expanding Canada’s shipbuilding workforce and ensuring early, sustained participation from Canadian industry.
The collaboration is driving a powerful two-way knowledge-sharing exchange between Finnish and Canadian workers. More than fifty employees are already rotating between the two countries, fuelling the expertise that will power future NSS programs and advancing the ICE Pact’s vision of deeper cooperation, stronger capability development, and greater industrial resilience among allied shipbuilding nations.
Declared James Davies, Chief Executive Officer: “Starting construction of Polar Max in Lévis marks an important new phase in a project that is already moving at an exceptional pace. Polar Max shows what can be achieved when trusted allies work together to deliver strategically vital projects when they are needed most. We are proud that work is now moving forward in Canada, where this program will strengthen long-term shipbuilding capacity while helping deliver this ship on time and on budget.”
(Images of Polar Max rendering and construction scene from Davie)