Coast Guard to build polar security base along Seattle waterfront

Conrad Swanson, The Seattle Times on Nov 14, 2025

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SEATTLE — The U.S. Coast Guard plans to grow its footprint along the Seattle waterfront, just west of T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field, to make room for a type of polar security base.

As the Northern Hemisphere warms, clearing ice sheets that previously blocked passage through many of the frigid waters, countries across the world are eying the region with increasing interest for scientific research, resource extraction and even a potential food supply.

These shifting geopolitics leave many concerned about America’s waning influence in Arctic waters. Seattle has long been home to the Coast Guard’s major expeditions into the region, serving as the main port for the military branch’s largest icebreaker. But that ship, the cutter Healy, is aging and holds a long and complicated list of responsibilities.

The expansion along the waterfront will enable the Coast Guard to dock many more Arctic ships here, growing the country’s “maritime dominance,” the branch said in a release.

The first phase of work, awarded in an August contract to the Bellevue-based Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, is worth some $137 million. The company will dredge the waters around Pier 36 and build two modernized berths, where additional polar security cutters could dock, the release said.

Dredging such a heavily polluted area will mean that crews must handle and dispose of the sediment with care and under strict guidelines. This will be the largest such removal of hazardous materials in the Coast Guard’s history, the release said.

The first phase will include widening the area between Piers 36 and 37, the release said. The crews will also demolish one existing building and stabilize waterfront areas.

The idea is to not only modernize the base but also to allow more ships to dock along the waterfront. First, they’d have to be built, though.

The Coast Guard has three polar icebreakers. They’re important for scientific research in these frozen and far-flung regions. And the Healy is just returning from a monthslong expedition into Arctic waters, for which several local scientists joined to conduct experiments on the ice and by dropping research buoys into the northern waters. But these ships are also important for emergency rescue operations, law enforcement on the ocean and patrolling American borders.

Scientific research in the Arctic is increasingly important. It’s one of the areas hardest hit by climate change, and understanding the warming environment up north can offer researchers clues to what we might expect in Seattle and across much of the rest of the country.

Law enforcement and border patrol are moving center stage, too, while countries like China and Russia expand their influence in the region. China has at least four icebreakers in its fleet, which pales in comparison to the dozens operated by Russia.

Early in his second term, President Donald Trump promised to add as many as 40 icebreakers to the United States fleet. Last month he sealed a deal with the Finnish government to acquire 11 new icebreakers, Reuters reported. Finland will build four of the ships there and help the U.S. build seven more domestically.

With that news and the local base expansion, Trump is making headway toward his promise. Later phases of the work in Seattle will continue to grow the local base and add four new berths to house even more ships here.

Funding for all the work comes from Trump’s massive and controversial tax plan — also dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — which Congress approved this past summer.