The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers authorized yesterday to the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) the setting-up in Saudi Arabia of a subsidiary of Navantia, called Navantia Saudi Arabia.
The creation of this subsidiary company, which will be endowed with a capital stock of 3.4 Million euros subscribed 100% by the state-owned shipbuilding company, responds to the requirements of the contract signed in 2018 with Saudi Arabia, for the amount of 1,813 Million euros, for the design, construction and delivery of five Avante 2200 corvettes.
According to the contract – which includes, among other services, a logistics package, the training of crews and maintenance personnel at the Jeddah Naval Base, the supply of equipment and support systems and support for the life cycle of the vessels for five years from the delivery of the first unit, extendable for another five-year period – the activities to be carried out in Saudi territory must be executed by a subsidiary company created in this country. By virtue of this commitment, Navantia Saudi Arabia will be in charge of the operation and maintenance of special ships and their equipment.
Among the other activities which this subsidiary will be able to promote are the management of the programs in that country which have been contracted by Navantia, the participation in the design of Navantia’s products for Saudi Arabia or other Gulf countries, the technical advice and the provision of logistic engineering services during the life cycle of the ships of the Royal Saudi Navy or other Gulf countries, the supply of materials and of systems and equipment for the Naval Base, the training and development of R&D activities and the creation of a local network of suppliers.
Navantia launched last March 28th, in San Fernando, the third of the five corvettes which are being built in the Bahía de Cádiz shipyard for the Royal Saudi Arabian Navy (RSNF) within the framework of the Avante 2200 program. The contract, in force since November 2018, strengthens Navantia’s immediate future and will involve an overall workload of around seven million hours, i.e. 6,000 jobs annually for five years, at all the company’s shipyards, especially in the Bay of Cadiz. The last ship should be delivered in 2024.
