Portugal’s Prime Minister, António Costa, has announced that seven new ships are to be built for the Navy at the Viana do Castelo shipyards,.
The PM announced the spend at the official launch of a new oceanic patrol ship in Sines.
Costa said that the increase in the number of the ships for the Navy, represents "a day of congratulations to the Portuguese shipbuilding and ship repair industry," which confirms the "vitality of the shipyards of Viana do Castelo and honours its long activity.”
António Costa stressed that "the technology used was developed in Portugal and is at the level of the best in the world," and thus "a very happy example of what we intend to do to strengthen our Armed Forces."
This investment is part of Portugal’s commitment to strengthen her Armed Forces in agreement with NATO.
Six of the seven are ocean patrol vessels which will join ‘Viana do Castelo’ and ‘Figueira da Foz’ already being used by the Navy. This boosted capability will enable Portugal to mark a presence in the Açores-Madeira-mainland triangle. Each ocean patrol ship costs about €60 million. A logistic vessel also will be built.
The construction of these ships will be at the Portuguese shipyards, thus, "every euro invested will become effective for three reasons - we will strengthen national defence, the scientific system and the industrial fabric," said Costa.
The new ocean patrol vessels will replace the ‘João Coutinho’ and ‘Baptista de Andrade’ corvettes and enable the Navy to take a full part in search and rescue, surveillance of Portugal’s sea area, and will “ensure Portugal's use of its sea in a sustainable, prosperous and secure manner.”
