Fincantieri has been awarded the contract with the Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG) for the supply of four Italian Navy “Minerva” class corvettes to be upgraded and converted into Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), and to provide the related logistics support services, the company said in its press release. These units, which will be decommissioned by the Italian Navy and replaced by the new vessels covered by the fleet renewal program, have been remised by the Italian Navy through a reselling contract executed by the Central Unit for Naval Armament and Fincantieri. The last lowering of the flag of the first couple of vessels "Minerva" and "Sibilla" was held last 14 May in Augusta. Present at the ceremony the Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, Admiral De Giorgi. On 29 June the two units arrived at Fincantieri’s dock in Genova, where the upgrading and conversion activities started and will completed at the naval shipyard in LaSpezia. After that the units will be handed over by Fincantieri to the Coast Guard of Bangladesh.
The contract was signed by Paolo Frino, Vice President After Sales Business Unit of Fincantieri and Mohammed Majedul Haque, Head of Planning and Sales of the BCG during a ceremony attended by Mario Palma, Ambassador of Italy to Bangladesh, Mozammel Haque Khan, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs (from which the BCG depends), Massimo De Benedictis, Fincantieri’s Regional Commercial Manager and Rear Admiral Mohammad Makbul Hossain, Director General of the BCG.
At the end of the upgrading and conversion works, which will take place in Italy and will last about 2 years, the vessels "Minerva", "Sibilla", "Urania", and "Danaide", whose lifespan will be extended by more than twenty years, will form the backbone of the Bangladesh Coast Guard fleet.
The vessels will be used to patrol the country's maritime boundaries and traffic in its Exclusive Economic Zone, with capabilities to contain environmental pollution and to rescue and assist civilians in the case of humanitarian emergencies.
Within its business development in the Far East, this agreement is particularly important for Fincantieri in the market segment of after-sales services for naval vessels, because it allows to provide a full range of services for both the platform and the combat system: from industrial “Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul and Conversions” services to “Life Cycle Management” of vessels through logistic services, to “Integrated Logistic Support”, usually developed during construction or conversion, to “In Service Support” maintenance, which are services developed after the delivery, during the exercise programs of the vessels.