Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri today delivered the final two offshore patrol vessels (OPV) to the Bangladesh Coast Guard (BCG).
The overall four vessels in the class are former Italian Navy Minerva-class corvettes converted by Fincantieri into offshore patrol vessels under a contract from July 2015.
The first two OPVs, formerly known as Minerva and Sibilla, were delivered to Bangladesh in August 2016 and were renamed by the Bangladesh Coast Guard to Syed Nazrul and Tajuddin.
The vessels that were delivered to Bangladesh today are former ITS Urania and ITS Danaide, renamed to Karamuzzaman and Mansoor Ali.
The delivery ceremony was attended among others by Mostafa Kamal Uddin, Secretary to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and Rear Adm. AMMM Aurangzeb Chowdhury, Director General of the Bangladesh Coast Guard.
The units will be used to patrol the country’s maritime boundaries and traffic in its exclusive economic zone, with capabilities to contain environmental pollution and to rescue and assist civilian populations in the case of humanitarian emergencies.