What is the useful life of an icebreaker? That is a very difficult question. It depends on how well it was built, whether there is a mid-life refit. You can extend the life of a ship for quite a long time if you have a so-called mid-life refit. So it's difficult to say. We have ships in the lakes that are over 80 years old operating in fresh water, so they last a lot longer.
On March 24th, 2009. See this statement in context.