An international rescue effort is underway to free a damaged Tasmanian fishing ship trapped in Antarctic ice.

The 63-metre Antarctic Chieftain, which is operated by Australian Longline in Launceston, broke a propeller and became stuck about 1,450 kilometres north-east of the icy McMurdo Sound waters.

A New Zealand fishing vessel, The Janus, and an American icebreaker, The Polar Star, responded to calls for assistance from the stricken ship's captain Rob Climpson.

Les Scott of Australian Longline said the 24 crew and two observers were in good shape.

"They are quite comfortable, they've been a bit bored over the last couple of days," he said.

"We've done the assessment but now they're flat out, because in moving the vessel through the channel, with a disability to the vessel, we need to plan that pretty well."

The Antarctic Chieftain, which is licensed to harvest Patagonian toothfish in the Southern Ocean, suffered the propeller damage on Sunday after hitting ice.

The American icebreaker is expected to arrive on the scene late on Friday while the Janus is three or four days away.

It is unknown how long the Polar Star will take to cut a path to the Antarctic Chieftain once it reaches the vicinity, but the stricken ship is well supplied to last through the rescue effort.