24.02.2012
UK Ministry of Defence signed a preliminary contract for construction of four 37,000-ton replenishment tankers with South Korean Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME). According to The Korea Times, the contract costs $709 mln. New ships are supposed to join the Royal Navy. The final contract considering all issues will be signed in mid-March 2012.
The South Korean company won the tender held by British Ministry of Defence. The tender was attended by several shipyards including British ones, but only Korean
DSME,
Hyundai Heavy Industries and Italian
Fincantieri filed commercial offers at final stage of the tender. Tankers for Great Britain will be built under MARS project; the first ship is to be delivered in 2016.
British shipyards will take part in construction as well. Their share in the project is evaluated as 20% with $141 mln investments. In particular, a number of control systems and auxiliary equipment for the tankers will be made in the UK.
Project MARS replenishment tankers have displacement of 200.9 meters, beam of 28.6 meters, and draft about 10 meters; they are used for transportation of diesel fuel, oils, aviation kerosene, and water in special tanks. In addition, the ships will have cargo section for standard shipping containers. It is planned to mount two antiaircraft CIWS
Vulcan Phalanx. Each ship will be also equipped with a heliport.
