U.S. Icebreaker Headed to New Zealand

New Zealand has granted the United States permission for a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker, the USCGC Polar Star, to visit the port of Lyttelton later this month. Washington DC - infoZine - The icebreaker will make the port call on its way to its home port of Seattle after completing a resupply mission supporting the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), which is managed by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The U.S. embassy in Wellington announced the port call earlier this week. New Zealand has not permitted port calls by U.S. naval and military vessels since its government passed a 1984 anti-nuclear law banning warships carrying nuclear weapons or operating with nuclear propulsion – something the U.S. does not disclose about its ships. Last summer, a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer made the first New Zealand port call since 1984. U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Candy Green said in a news release that both nations would consider any future U.S. ship visits on a case-by-case basis.