Chilean president signs national shipbuilding policy to cement naval "Made in Chile" goal

On Friday, the President of Chile signed the "Continuous National Shipbuilding Policy" next to the slipway where the first ship of the Escotillón IV project is currently being built.

"This means that with this we are ratifying our naval vocation," said President Gabriel Boric.

"Chile has one of the longest coasts in the world. We are the only tricontinental country and we also have an Antarctic vocation and we intend that our country be understood as the natural gateway to it."

A national shipbuilding plan for the country was proposed last April to cement long-term planning into the naval procurement process and ensure the Chilean Navy would in future only source ships from local yards.

"For ASMAR [state-owned shipbuilding group Astilleros y Maestranzas de la Armada] it is a tremendous challenge to sign this shipbuilding policy, because it allows us to generate shipbuilding plans and with this to be able to renew both auxiliary and surface units of the navy," commented Rear Admiral José Miguel Hernández, Director of Shipyards and Shipyards of the Navy.

"ASMAR has tremendous experience in shipbuilding, it has been building ships, auxiliary ships of different types for more than 60 years, but we want to build our own frigates in the next decade and this impulse, this continuous shipbuilding plan undoubtedly gives us the experience and know-how to be able to build these frigates that is a desire of the institution."