Norwegian shipbuilder Bergen Group Services announced it has received a one-year contract extension for the service of Royal Norwegian Navy vessels, less than a month after losing a NOK 700 million (approx. $83 million) contract for the upkeep of Nansen-class frigates.
On June 22, Norwegian Armed Forces announced it chose OneCo for frigate maintenance over Bergen who was previously in charge of the work.
The armed forces cited cost savings as the main driver behind the decision.
The June 30 contract extension for the maintenance and repair of some of the Norwegian Navy’s vessel categories will, to some extent, offset the loss of the frigate contract for Bergen.
The company said the framework contract has generated a number of smaller jobs since August 2014, in addition to two major assignments with inspection and survey project (5-year classing) on two minesweepers with a total order value of NOK 25-30 million and a total project period of 8 months.
“Bergen Group Services is pleased that the Defence has chosen to exercise the option to extend this framework agreement until 1 August 2018,” said Bergen Group Services CEO Frode Johansson . “The lack of an extension on the frigate-contract as from 1 July this year does not change the fact that we still consider the Norwegian Armed Forces to be a preferred and important customer in the coming years. We maintain our ambition to uphold the company’s well established expertise and capacity related to carry out complex maritime projects and service operations.”