Today the Cantiere Navali Vittoria delivered the largest patrol boat it has ever constructed to the Armed Forces of Malta. The new flagship, co-financed by the EU through the Internal Security Fund and totalling over €50 million, will conduct SAR operations in the central Mediterranean as well as surveillance, coastal and offshore monitoring.
The largest offshore patrol vessel ever built by Vittoria Shipyard, a Venetian company specializing in the design and construction of military, paramilitary, work, commercial, and transport boats up to 100 meters in length, sailed from the Chioggia where it was moored for the completion of sea trials in the last days and was arrived early this morning in the Grand Harbour.
The unit, an Offshore Patrol Vessel measuring 75 meters in length, was constructed in Italy and will serve as the new flagship of the Armed Forces of Malta. It will be utilized for coastal surveillance operations, extensive high-seas patrols, and search and rescue missions.
“All our design and construction skills are summarised in this record-breaking boat. We have created an OPV capable of responding to all the requests of a particularly rigorous client that is attentive to compliance with very high technical standards and performance. From today, Italian engineering and construction techniques will be at the service of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Malta. With great honour we entrust to the Maltese Government, whom we thank again for the trust placed, a patrol vessel that will guarantee the Armed Forces of Malta an instrument of great support for surveillance and control operations in the heart of the Mediterranean.”
Paolo Duò, President of Cantiere Navale Vittoria
OPV P71 is the result of a contract with a total value of over 50 million euros that the Venetian company obtained by participating in a preselection first and then in an international public tender that was then overseen by the Malta’s Ministry for Home Affairs, Security, Reforms & Equality and mostly co-funded (75%) by the EU under the Internal Security Fund (ISF) 2014-2020, the fund established by the Union for the implementation of the internal security strategy, law enforcement coordination, and the management of the internal security infrastructure.
