Spanish shipbuilder Navantia has picked MAN to provide main and GenSet engines to power the two new fleet support tankers that are to be built for the Royal Australian Navy.
According to MAN, each vessel will feature two 18V 32/40 main engines and four 7L21/31 GenSets with shipset deliveries scheduled for December 2017 and June 2018, respectively.
“As with the engines they replace, these Royal Australian Navy newbuildings are also powered by MAN units,” Lex Nijsen , head of four-stroke marine MAN Diesel & Turbo, said. “We welcome the repeat business and feel it stands testament to the quality of our portfolio.”
Australia’s existing supply ship HMAS Sirius is also powered by MAN two-stroke engines.
Navantia is building the new tankers under the Australian SEA 1654 program which will cost the Australian Navy $640 million to construct. The ships are based on the Spanish Navy’s auxiliary-oiler replenishment ship ESPS Cantabria.
This is not the first time Navantia is working for the Australian government as the company was contracted to build two landing helicopter dock ships HMAS Canberra and Adelaide in 2007.
The Australian Defence White Paper says that a third replenishment or additional logistics vessel similar to HMAS Choules would follow in the late 2020s.