Estonian shipbuilder Baltic Workboats has signed a contract with the Danish Ministry of Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) to build five 26-metre search and rescue vessels.
The company announced the contract on Tuesday, November 3.
Baltic Workboats said the design and construction of the five vessels are valued at approximately €40 million ($44.9 million). The construction contract follows a detailed design project lasting more than 20 months.
Danish rescue boats from the previous generation will be replaced by the vessels, which will operate along the western coast of Jutland. The company said they are designed to survive eight-metre breaking waves.
The design has fully independent and separated engine rooms, controllable pitch propeller (CPP) propulsion and a wave-piercing hull patented by the yard. Buoyancy compartments partially filled with buoyant material will provide all-compartment damage stability.
The vessels can also self-right with a fully flooded wheelhouse. Baltic Workboats said model tests in a basin reproducing the depth changes and breaking waves of the Danish coastline confirmed this capability and showed that the wheelhouse drains completely within two minutes.
Top speed will be 25 knots. Equipment will include a towing winch, a deck crane and a fire monitor.
The first vessel is scheduled for delivery no later than 14 months after the contract is signed, with handover of all five planned within 24 months.
