Trinidad & Tobago to receive Offshore Patrol Vessel from BVT

BVT Surface Fleet, the maritime Joint Venture between BAE Systems and VT Group, have announced that they will build, integrate, test and commission (up to Sea Trials) an Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) for the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and undertake considerable further work on another, at its facilities on the Clyde in Glasgow. The two 90m vessels for the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard are part of a £150M+ contract signed in April 2007 between VT Shipbuilding and the Government of Republic of Trinidad & Tobago (GORTT). The scope of the contract is to build three Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) and provide support in the form of training and long-term maintenance and is now managed by BVT. The programme is also supported by the UK MOD which is providing advice to GORTT and operational sea training to the TTCG crews. The ships will perform a range of Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) management, special operations and maritime law enforcement tasks. The first of the ships is being built at BVT's yard in Portsmouth. The decision to move the construction of the second ship in the programme to the Clyde has been taken to make optimum use of facilities and resources in order to improve overall delivery to BVT's customers, to balance workloads across its sites and to help to ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry across the UK. The decision follows a significant increase in work content to be carried out by BVT's Portsmouth facilities on the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers, announced earlier this month. Scott Jamieson, BVT's Trinidad and Tobago Programme Director, said "This move shows BVT's ability and commitment to use its scale and scope to ensure delivery of future naval capability to its customers and to ensure the long term sustainability of the maritime industry in the UK". Design and build of the ships is well advanced, with the first ship well progressed in Portsmouth, and manufacture of the second ship already underway at Scotstoun on the Clyde. The second ship will be launched from BVT's Scotstoun facility later this year and delivered in 2010. The final delivery strategy for the third and final ship remains under review.