Malaysian Navy gets Spanish treatment

Spanish shipbuilder Navantia hopes that its business dealings with Malaysia will not end with building the aft sections of the Royal Malaysian Navy’s two Scorpene submarines.

Clinching the deal to build the rear half of the submarines has aroused the company’s interest in Malaysia as a potential customer for other projects. “Navantia has made presentations on multi-role support ships for the navy on several occasions. We have also made presentations on offshore patrol vessels to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency,” said Navantia’s Southeast Asian regional manager Juan Carlos Portillo.

He said the region had been growing economically in the last few years and this had given the countries here the economical capacity to renew their fleets or buy new vessels.

He said because the countries lacked naval designing and shipbuilding technology and facilities, they had to import the products. This gave Navantia, which has participated in almost every Lima exhibition, the opportunity to participate in the industrial growth in the region.

“Navantia is not only willing to sell but is also open to transferring technology to the local industry so that they can maintain their ships and build their own vessels in the future,” Portillo said, adding that Navantia had proposed to maintain and upkeep the Scorpene submarines.

The company’s participation at the Langkawi International Maritime Aerospace exhibition (Lima 2007) will see it displaying a wide range of products, including its projects for the Royal Australian Navy, the Spanish Navy’s multi-role support ship, offshore patrol vessels, the Mine-hunter and the F-100 frigate, and the F-310 frigate for the Royal Norwegian Navy, as well as the Scorpene submarine for Malaysia.