ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems offering patrol vessels to South African Navy |
Publication |
defenceWeb |
Date | 2012-10-11 |
Reporter | Guy Martin |
Web Link | http://www.defenceweb.co.za |
For the South African Navy’s Project Biro
requirement for new offshore and inshore patrol
vessels, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS)
is offering an offshore patrol vessel (OPV)
based on the Malaysian Navy’s 91 metre, 1 650
ton Meko 100 corvettes.
Six of these vessels were delivered to Malaysia
between 2004 and 2010. Although TKMS has also
offered inshore patrol vessels, the company’s
main focus is on the Navy’s OPV requirement.
“The Navy will always have to operate offshore
patrol vessels,” said Stephan Gehlhoff, Senior
Vice President, Sales at TKMS.
A request for information for Biro-category
vessels was issued last year and the navy
expects to issue a request for quotations before
the end of this year. The Navy also has the
proposed Project Millennium landing dock ship
requirement and Project Hotel requirement for a
new hydrographic survey vessel. TKMS helped
design a helicopter landing helicopter dock (LHD)
ship for Project Millennium, but this has
essentially been shelved.
A number of shipyards are aiming for Project
Biro. DCNS last month brought its Gowind class
OPV L’Adroit to Cape Town to demonstrate the
type, which would be built by Nautic Africa in
Cape Town (local construction is one requirement
for this project). Some of the other shipyards
competing for Biro include Damen, Lurssen/South
African Shipyards, Fincantieri, Austal, Abeking
& Rasmussen/Veecraft Marine, Navantia, and
Istanbul Shipyard.
As part of the Strategic Defence Procurement
Package (SDP – aka ‘arms deal’), German
manufacturer HDW supplied three Type 209
Mod1400M submarines to the South African Navy,
two of which are operational. The third, the SAS
Manthatisi, is held in reserve after her battery
was damaged when someone incorrectly connected a
power cable. The replacement battery for the SAS
Manthatisi has been delivered and this vessel is
now serving as the ‘first in class’ to be
scheduled for a planned refit. TKMS received the
contract to overhaul this submarine and expects
to have the submarine back in the water next
year. The overhaul process takes around 1.5
years.
Gehlhoff emphasised the importance of proper
maintenance and said that for a fleet of three
vessels, it should be assumed that two will be
operational at any given time, with one
undergoing maintenance. He noted that out of the
total cost of owning a submarine, around 30% is
the initial acquisition cost while 70% of the
cost goes to running the vessel. It is therefore
important to have enough funding, and a properly
trained crew - that way incidents like the one
that affected the SAS Queen Modjadji when it
accidentally hit bottom during a training
exercise on July 17 are less likely to happen.
Gehlhoff said that in the South African Navy,
most of the trained personnel have left for the
commercial industry, which pays better, or have
retired. The skills shortage is compounded by a
lack of training, he said, and noted that TKMS
has offered to assist the South African Navy
with skills training.
Apart from South Africa, other African countries
TKMS has sold vessels to include Nigeria,
Algeria and Egypt. Although the demand is there
for new vessels, funding remains a big obstacle,
Gehlhoff said. TKMS is looking at the West and
East coasts of Africa for new business, as there
are major piracy problems there. While piracy
off Somalia has dropped significantly this year,
it has increased off the West Africa,
particularly around Nigeria. Gehlhoff said that
TKMS has approached countries in the region and
has proposed a common vessel for the southern
African area. “If South Africa buys offshore
patrol vessels, hopefully other countries will
buy too.”
TKMS recently sold
two Meko A200 frigates to the Algerian Navy *1,
which are based on the four Meko A200s supplied
to the South African Navy. Algeria’s ministry of
defence ordered the vessels on March 26 after a
year of negotiations. Gehlhoff said that the
Algerian contract went into effect in August and
will be followed by six months of design work,
for delivery of ships in three to four years’
time, which is a relatively short period.
With acknowledgement to Guy Martin and defenceWeb.
Jonny Kamerman's,
TKMS Vice President for International Sales,
first big break since Joe Modise and Thabo Mbeki
created a post of Rear Admiral (FNGR) *2 for him
in the SA Navy.
*2