VERSATILE TO BUILD POLAR ICE BREAKER

  Versatile Corp's shipbuilding subsidiary
  has a letter of intent to build a 320 mln dlr polar icebreaker
  for the Canadian coast guard, Transport Minister John Crosbie
  said.
      In a Vancouver address, Crosbie said Versatile Pacific
  Shipyards Inc was the low bidder to build the Arctic Class 8
  icebreaker, but the company must meet certain financial and
  engineering conditions before the contract is awarded.
      The government also announced it will provide up to 13 mln
  dlrs in loan insurance to help Versatile prepare for the
  construction of the vessel.
  said before the contract can be awarded Versatile "will be
  required to offer assurances that the shipyard is technically
  and financially capable of performing the work."
      Crosibie said Versatile's bid was 100 mln dlrs lower than
  competing bidders and will generate 1,000 person years of
  direct employment.
      Work on the vessel, which Crosbie said would be the most
  powerful icebreaker in the world, would begin next year and
  completed in 1992.
      The government announced plans to build the icebreaker last
  year following the controversial passage of the U.S. Coast
  Guard's vessel, the Polar Sea, through the disputed Northwest
  Passage. The U.S. government did not seek permission for the
  journey, claiming the area was an international water way.
      The government said the icebreaker was needed to back up
  the country's claim of sovereignty in the Arctic.
  

