Ship contract date extended
INTEREST in the building of a highly sophisticated hydrographic survey ship for the South African Navy is heating up, so much so that Armscor, which is overseeing the awarding of the contract named Project Hotel, has extended the cutoff time by two months to June 30.
Prospective ship builders were supposed to have submitted their tenders by April 24.
The reason offered for the extension is to give potential bidders more time to finalise their bids, and this is believed to be a result of the sheer complexity of the project.
The SA Navy’s present survey ship is SAS Protea, the darling of the navy in many respects. Built in Britain, the ship is already 44 years old and will have to continue in service for at least another five years, which the navy says it can handle.
SAS Protea has been observed earlier this year doing her survey work close inshore of the KwaZuluNatal coast, including off Durban.
There were 12 shipyards represented at a bidders’ conference.
Adding to the complexities of the project, Armscor is also calling for two inshore survey motorboats to be integrated with the hydrographic ship, a sea boat and a hangar and flight deck suitable for a medium size marine helicopter.
Also included in the tender documents is an upgrading of the shore-based hydrographic office infrastructure at Silvermine in the Cape, along with associated logistic support facilities.
Approval of the project remains probably at least a year away. The government and Armscor have intimated they would prefer the ship to be built locally and overseas ship builders have been busy sharing ideas and the possibility of building the ship in a local shipyard.
The size of the vessel alone dictates that only a few shipyards here possess the facilities, including a covered hall, to build a ship of this size and sophistication. Among them is Durban’s Southern African Shipyards (SAS) which has already undertaken maintenance and repair contract work for the navy.
A second naval contract being “chased” by shipyards in several parts of the world, not to mention here in South Africa, is that of Project Biro, which entails the supply of six patrol boats.
Three of these will be fairly large-sized offshore patrol ships, of about 80m in length, while the other three will be for inshore patrol purposes and will possibly be in the region of 40-45m in length.
The closing date for these tenders is also June 30, and strong interest has been shown. Southern African Shipyards is again keen to secure part or all of these contracts, and has partnered with an overseas shipbuilder for this project. Incidentally, SAS recently signed a memorandum of understanding with China Shipbuilding Trading Co, the world’s largest shipbuilding group in which the two will share experience and expertise, in particular those projects that fall under the government’s Operation Phakisa (meaning Hurry-up).
While this memorandum of understanding will not affect the Armscor contracts directly, there are bound to be synergies that will assist SAS in the event of it being awarded one or more contracts.
Not unsurprisingly at this time, a modernistic French naval patrol ship has arrived in Cape Town to once again showcase the type of vessel a French shipyard can offer.
FS L’Adroit is a Gowind type patrol ship developed by the French shipyard DCNS (Direction des Constructions Navales Services) and was first seen in Cape Town three years ago when the ship was showcased for the Africa Aerospace & Defence (AAD) 2012 exhibition.
DCNS has teamed up with a Cape Town-based shipyard, Nautic Africa which is part of the Paramount Naval Systems, a major South African arms manufacturer and supplier and will be bidding for the contract.
L’Adroit (the name means quick and skilful) was developed and built by the DCNS and is on a three-year “lease” to the French Navy, conducting typical offshore patrol-type duties. These include maritime patrol, surveillance, fisheries inspection and protection, anti-drugs operations, environmental protection, humanitarian assistance and search and rescue at sea. At the end of this period the French Navy can negotiate to purchase the ship or hand her back.
She displaces 1 450 tons and has a length of 87m and is powered by a pair of Anglo Belgian Corp V12 diesel engines rated at 5 600kW each.
Twin shafts and variable propellers give her a top speed of 21 knots and an endurance of three weeks at sea with a range of 8 000 nautical miles at 12 knots. She has a core crew of 30 and can carry an additional 29 personnel.
Her armament consists of a 20mm cannon and two .50-calibre machine guns. She also has aviation facilities for a marine helicopter as well as an unmanned Schiebel Camcopter.