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U.S. Coast Guard Re-Commissions Icebreaker Aiviq as USCGC Storis

Storis
USCGC Storis decked out for commissioning (USCG)

Published Aug 11, 2025 6:23 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

The U.S. Coast Guard has formally recommissioned the icebreaking offshore tug Aiviq as the USCGC Storis, adding an "interim icebreaker" to supplement USCGC Polar Star and USCGC Healy. It is the first oceangoing icebreaker that the Coast Guard has acquired in more than 25 years. 

Aiviq was built by Edison Chouest in 2012 as an icebreaking anchor-handler for Shell's Arctic offshore drilling program. After the vessel lost its propulsion and its tow in the Gulf of Alaska in late 2012, Shell's program ended, and Aiviq was idle for an extended period. The Coast Guard initially resisted pressure to buy the ship from Edison Chouest, but after Aiviq made several commercial voyages to Antarctica - and after the USCG's own icebreaker construction program fell behind schedule - the service changed its mind. 

The USCG budgeted for Aiviq's purchase in FY2024, and the icebreaker was formally acquired on Dec. 11, 2024. It will support Coast Guard missions until the delayed delivery of the Polar Security Cutter (PSC), the USCG's future heavy icebreaker.

Unlike other Coast Guard cutters, USCGC Storis is manned by a hybrid crew of civilian mariners (experts from Chouest) and active-duty Coast Guard servicemembers. The arrangement helped the service get Aiviq into service immediately, without an extended period for working out new procedures and training up a new Coast Guard crew. 

“USCGC Storis is a major win for the American people,” said Adm. Kevin Lunday, Acting Commandant of the Coast Guard. “The commissioning of USCGC Storis immediately strengthens our ability to control, secure, and defend the U.S. border around Alaska and maritime approaches in the Arctic. Storis is the first step of a historic investment in the Coast Guard to add critical capacity to our polar icebreaker fleet.” 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act contains funding for a new berth for Storis in Juneau. Until the work is completed, Storis will be homeported in Seattle, where there is shipyard infrastructure and a industrial base to support marine operations. 

Storis' commissioning in Juneau comes fully one year ahead of the planned schedule for her conversion into a cutter, and may be timely. China's government-affiliated research institutions have deployed no fewer than five icebreakers off Alaska this season, an unprecedented Chinese presence on America's Arctic doorstep. Storis' itinerary will take her next to Kodiak, then to the Bering Strait, according to the Alaska Beacon.