Delayed ships may be expensive for the Navy

OSLO. Fellesforbundet leader Jørn-Henning Eggum.Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix

The largest ships ever of the Navy is being  built in South Korea, but there has been  delayes in the production and  the Military is considering asking the Parlament for more money.

Bergen Group’s former shipyard division participated in the competition for the assignment of building the new logistics vessel “Maud” which is 183 meters long and 26 meters wide.
The Military, however, chose to place a billion order at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea, writes Dagens Næringsliv.
Now it turns out that the yard is several months behind schedule. In addition,  the developments in exchange rates makes it necessary to increase funding for the project. The original contract amount was t 1.32 billion.
– DSME has reported some delays, but the ship will be launched during the summer and then the tests will begin. The delays are estimated to be at around four months,  information director Marianne Øiahals in Military equipment says.
The new vessel, which will support and re-supply maritime forces will be twice as large as the frigates. According Øiahals the project so far has been completed within the cost originally scheduled.
The leader of Fellesforbundet, a division of the labor union LO, Jørn-Henning Eggum has received many reactions from representatives of the Norwegian shipyards that the order went to South Korea. He is concerned that the Ministry of Defence will not make the same mistake again with the next big project, the new Coast Guard vessels.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today