One Finnish Yard, Two Navies: Rauma Builds Corvettes and US Coast Guard Icebreakers at Once

Rauma Marine Constructions has become one of the few mid-sized European yards running two national naval programmes side by side. All four Pohjanmaa-class corvettes for the Finnish Navy are now under construction, the fourth keel having been laid on 4 August 2026, and two Arctic Security Cutters for the US Coast Guard are in production at the same facility.

Squadron 2020

The Pohjanmaa class replaces Finland’s ageing minelayers and fast attack craft under the Squadron 2020 programme. At roughly 117 metres, the multipurpose corvettes fold air defence, anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and surface strike into a single hull, with an ice-strengthened structure that allows independent operations in a freezing Baltic.

Finland’s NATO accession changed what the class is for. These ships are no longer purely national assets; they now feed the alliance’s maritime picture in a sea that has become one of its most sensitive.

ICE Pact and the icebreaker line

The US Coast Guard contract was signed in June 2026 under the Finland-US ICE Pact framework, with delivery of both vessels scheduled for 2028. The broader American programme extends to as many as 11 cutters, with a further four planned through Bollinger Shipyards in cooperation with RMC.

RMC was selected on schedule certainty and Arctic construction experience. Decades without a serious heavy icebreaker recapitalisation left the US Coast Guard short of hulls, and turning to a foreign yard with a live production line was the fastest available answer.

Capacity behind the orders

The yard has absorbed more than €60 million in investment through the 2020s. The centrepiece is a 186-metre multipurpose construction hall able to hold two corvette-sized vessels at once, supported by 15,000 tonnes a year of steel processing, a permanent dry dock, three outfitting quays and an 11,000-tonne submersible barge. The workforce has nearly doubled in three years to around 400, with a subcontractor network exceeding 1,500 people.

The wider signal

Shipbuilding capacity is being revalued across Europe. Yards that spent years under consolidation pressure are filling order books again as defence budgets rise and the Arctic gains strategic weight. The lesson RMC illustrates is narrow specialisation combined with credible delivery dates — the same formula Turkish yards such as Dearsan, ASFAT and STM have used to win export work while running national programmes in parallel.