Canada has awarded a C$24,999,999.99 ($17.7m) contract to Inuit-owned Qikiqtaaluk Horizon Arctic Services Limited Partnership to deploy the Finnish-flagged Polar Class 3 icebreaker Nordica for the Canadian Coast Guard’s 2026 Arctic season, according to CanadaBuys.
The directed contract was awarded on 30 July through Public Services and Procurement Canada and runs until 30 November. The Coast Guard cited an urgent requirement for extra Arctic icebreaking capacity.
Finland’s Arctia will supply Nordica through Qikiqtaaluk Horizon Arctic Services, or QHAS, a joint venture between Qikiqtaaluk Corporation and Horizon Naval Engineering. Horizon is Arctia’s contractual counterparty, while the Canadian Coast Guard is the end customer.
The independently crewed vessel will work across Canadian Arctic waters and Inuit Nunangat on icebreaking, vessel escorts, ice management, Arctic resupply, search and rescue and environmental response. The extra capacity will also support the Coast Guard’s maritime security mandate, although Arctia’s work is restricted to civilian services and excludes government-authority, law-enforcement and defence duties.
QHAS called the charter the first partnership of its kind between an Inuit-led company and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Arctia expects the deployment in autumn 2026, with Nordica returning to the Baltic before Finland’s icebreaking season. The Canadian award covers four months, while Arctia’s underlying charter has an initial one-year term and extension options.
Built in 1994, the Helsinki-registered Nordica is 116 metres long, 26 metres wide and 9,392 gt. The PC3 vessel has 15 MW of propulsion power, a service speed of up to 16 knots and a standard crew of 21.
Arctia is wholly owned by the Finnish state under the ownership steering of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The maritime services group employs about 400 people and operates eight icebreakers.
Qikiqtaaluk Corporation, established in 1983, is a wholly Inuit-owned birthright development corporation and the commercial development arm of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, representing more than 16,000 Inuit beneficiaries across 13 Nunavut communities.