VT shipbuilders win three ship order

VT shipbuilders win three ship order
VT Group to build Offshore Patrol Vessels for Trinidad and Tobago

Support services and shipbuilding company VT Group has been contracted to build and manage three (3) Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV), including associated training and long-term maintenance support, that are to be supplied to Trinidad.

The programme, which was part of a proposal from the Government of the United Kingdom and VT Group to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, is valued at more than £150 million. Contracts were signed in Trinidad on Thursday April 5.

Design work will start immediately on the 90 metre long ships, which will be used for a range of Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) management, special operations and maritime law enforcement tasks. They will be operated by the Trinidad and Tobago Coastguard and the first ship will be handed over in 2009.

The contract will sustain around 200 skilled jobs and create a further 100 new positions at VT's Portsmouth Naval Base shipbuilding facility.

VT Chief Executive Paul Lester commented: "The programme will give additional long term visibility to the order book of our shipbuilding business and is a further notable export success for VT following our contract in Oman. We anticipate that production will start at Portsmouth in autumn 2007."