Finnish shipbuilder Uudenkaupungin Työvene has delivered a small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) personnel transfer vessel to the German Navy, the company announced on Friday, October 30.
Castor was handed over at her home port of Neustadt/Holstein on behalf of the German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw).
The vessel can carry up to 60 personnel between naval units operating in Lübeck Bay and the shore-based Naval Damage Control Training Centre in Neustadt, known by its German abbreviation EAZS M. The centre trains entire warship crews in damage control in Lübeck Bay.
Castor has a personnel transfer system created expressly for use at sea. The shipbuilder said the system was developed in collaboration with its design partners and manufactured through its Finnish supplier network. The company described the system as fully approved and tested.
Slender struts link the vessel's two submerged hulls with the main body, reducing the waterplane area.
According to the shipbuilder, this reduces how strongly waves affect the vessel and improves its motion characteristics during transfers beside larger naval vessels.
Castor is the third vessel in a five-vessel series that Työvene is building for different customers.
BAAINBw awarded the contract for the 29-metre vessel in March 2026. The vessel was built at the shipbuilder's yard in Uusikaupunki, Finland.
