The Coast Guard has awarded 1000 Island Airboats, Marion, Wis., a contract worth up to $6.13 million for as many as 10 ice rescue boats for Great Lakes operations.
The initial $4.9 million order covers eight 25' Special Purpose Craft–Ice Rescue Transport Second Generation boats (SPC-IRT IIs), specialized transport trailers, operator training and technical data support. The contract has a three-year performance period, with delivery of the first two boats expected in December 2026.
The boats will replace legacy aluminum-hulled ice rescue boats that are approaching or have reached the end of their service lives. They will provide cold-weather search-and-rescue capability on frozen Great Lakes waterways.
The new boats will be stationed in Cleveland; Marblehead, Ohio; Essexville, Mich., at the Coast Guard’s Saginaw River station; Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.; and Sturgeon Bay, Wis.
“These new boats will provide Coast Guard crews a dependable, mission-ready capability to conduct search-and-rescue operations and all-hazard missions in the challenging winter environment of the Great Lakes,” Rear Adm. Russell Dash, commander of the Coast Guard Great Lakes District, said in a statement. “This investment strengthens our boat fleet and helps ensure we remain ready to execute the missions that safeguard mariners, waterways and coastal communities.”
