Damen Shipyards Group held a joint steel cutting and keel laying ceremony at Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania. The event simultaneously marked two significant milestones in the construction of an innovative Multi-Purpose Ship for the Portuguese Navy.
The event was hosted by Damen Chief Commercial Officer Jan-Wim Dekker and attended by honourable guests, the Portuguese Minister of National Defence, Nuno Melo and the Chief of Portuguese Naval Staff, Admiral Gouveia e Melo. The Chief Guests carried out the steel cutting and keel laying of the vessel.
The contract for the ship was signed by the two parties in November last year following a tender process. The project is funded by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) that is part of NextGenerationEU (the economic recovery package to support EU member states affected by the Covid-19 pandemic).
The Multi-Purpose Ship forms part of Damen’s Support Ship range. The range, spanning 7000-9000 tons, applies proven, standard solutions where possible to ensure fast, reliable and cost-effective construction.
Considering a concept presented by the Portuguese Navy, Damen has cooperated closely with its client in the development of a vessel to meet its specific requirements The ship, the NRP Dom João II, offers unrivalled versatility, with capabilities spanning scientific and technological research, search & rescue, emergency relief, as well as maritime safety and environmental & meteorological monitoring.
In acknowledgement of the growing importance of drones and autonomous technology in emergency relief and surveillance, the Multi-Purpose Ship is capable of transporting and launching Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV), Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). For the latter, this includes a 94 x 11 metre flight deck.
The 107m vessel features 650m2 deck space, suitable for the transportation of up to twelve TEUs. These can be used to house mission-specific modular systems such as hospitals, hyperbaric chambers and ROV equipment, as required.
