Abstract Global ice loads at different locations on a ship during rams into ice are a function of ship motions and added mass in addition to the failure mode and strength of the ice. In the literature, various analytical added mass models have been used for ship-ice interactions, which could lead to significant differences in the prediction of global ice loads on ships. In this work, an improved added mass model has been developed based on numerical results and existing analytical models. Added mass coefficients of three ice-going ships, CCGS Amundsen, CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent and MVArctic, were estimated using four analytical added mass models. It was found that the differences in added mass coefficients predicted by these models are significant and enhancements can be made. A body-exact numerical simulation tool based on the potential-flow theory, MAPS0, has been used to compute the added mass coefficients of the three vessels in the frequency domain and the results were used for the development of the improved added mass model. The improvement in the load predictions has been demonstrated by applying the new added mass model to the three vessels.