BAE team among 4 picked for UK fleet tanker bid
A BAE Systems-led team has been pitted against rival bids from Italy, South Korea and Spain to build a fleet of naval tankers to support Royal Navy operations.
The Ministry of Defence announced May 21 that Fincantieri of Italy, Navantia from Spain and South Korea's Hyundai have been down-selected with the BAE team, which also includes naval designers BMT and the South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding, in a competition to buy up to six fleet tankers for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA).
The British made the shortlist decision on the basis of prequalification questionnaires submitted earlier from nine original bidders. A decision on the winning contractor is expected next year with the first ship in service around 2012.
Construction of the tankers is the first phase of an expected 2.5 billion-pound ($4.9 billion) Maritime Afloat Reach and Sustainability program to build a fleet of up to 11 logistics ships of various types for the RFA.
It's the second major shipbuilding announcement by the British government in the last 24 hours. The MoD on May 20 confirmed a 3.8 billion-pound program to build two aircraft carriers was to be undertaken by an alliance of companies comprising BAE, Babcock International, Thales and the VT Group.
The fleet tankers program has been immersed in controversy following the MoD's decision to throw open the competition to non-British shipbuilders.
Some people here reckon it will set a precedent under European Union regulations when the British come to decide where other, more sophisticated military logistics ships should be built.
For now, the argument has been forestalled by the decision to build the 65,000-ton aircraft carriers. The largest warships ever built in Britain will consume virtually every inch of shipyard capacity over the next four or five years, leaving no space for tanker construction.
The carriers are being built in modules at shipyards across Britain and floated to the Rosyth yard of Babcock for assembly. The in-service date of the first vessel is 2014, followed two years later by the second.
In a statement, the MoD said none of the builders had indicated their intention to build the tankers in the UK.
The RFA has often taken up second-hand commercial ships built overseas for logistics duties, but the Maritime Afloat Reach and Sustainability fleet tankers, at approximately 33,000 tons, are probably the largest fleet of new ships for the RFA or the Navy sourced from outside of Britain.
The MoD said the double-hulled tankers were urgently required, as most of Britain's current tanker fleet does not comply with upcoming international maritime environment standards.
Source: www.defensenews.com
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