The design and construction of polar ships rely on the prior knowledge of the safety of ships sailing in ice regions. However, the current available trial data and experience in ice regions are extremely insufficient in the world, which requires the development of effective and reliable prediction methods. The current development of sea ice mechanics and engineering is still far from maturity. It is therefore difficult to form a reliable method for the performance prediction of ships sailing in ice regions based on theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. Therefore, it has been accepted by the international academia and industry that the ice tank testing is the only reliable way to predict and assess the performance of ships sailing in ice regions. The state-of-the-art of the experimental prediction of performance for polar ships sailing in ice regions is introduced from three aspects of resistance, propulsion and manoeuvrability. And the key technologies are reviewed to provide references for the industry to fully understand the ice tank testing techniques.