Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri announced February 9 that it has started construction works on the Italian Navy’s logistic support ship which will be built under the Navy’s fleet renewal plan.
The steel cutting ceremony of the ships stern section was held yesterday at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Riva Trigoso, Genoa, Italy.
In the coming months, the 86-meter, 7.000-ton section will be launched and transported by sea to the shipyard in Muggiano (La Spezia), where it will be assembled to set up the entire unit with the bow section, whose steel cutting ceremony will take place on February 16 at the company’s shipyard in Castellammare di Stabia.
The delivery of the LSS is scheduled for 2019.
The beginning of the construction also involves RINA Services, an operational arm of RINA which develops and offers services of ship classification, certification, verification of conformity, inspection and testing.
According to Fincantieri, the LSS will be classified by RINA pursuant to international conventions about prevention of pollution regarding the more traditional aspects, like the ones of the MARPOL Convention, as well as those not yet mandatory, as the Hong Kong Convention about ship recycling.
Fincantieri said the logistic support ship will feature hospital and healthcare capabilities thanks to the presence of a fully equipped hospital, complete with operating rooms, radiology and analysis rooms, a dentist’s office and hospital rooms capable of hosting up to 12 seriously injured patients.
The ship is capable of combining capacity to transport and transfer to other transport vessels used for liquids (diesel fuel, jet fuel, fresh water) and solids (emergency spare parts, food and ammunitions) and to perform at sea repairs and maintenance work for other vessels.
The Italian Navy fleet renewal plan is a €3.5 billion project that includes six patrol vessels, with four more in option, and one logistic support unit. Fincantieri and Finmeccanica are the main contractors where Fincantieri’s share amounts to approx. €2.3 billion while Finmeccanica will receive the remaining €1.2 billion.
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