SHAH ALAM: IT appears that the strange obsession with ship designs from Fassmer, a shipbuilder from Germany with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) is finally over.
Yes, only one ship design from Fassmer became operational with the MMEA – the NGPC or Bagan Datuk class though heavily modified – from the three offered to the agency.
The two that nearly become the winning designs are of course for the OPV and mothership projects. The Damen 1800 design was selected for the OPV project with one of the three hulls contracted for – KM Tun Fatimah – is in service with the MMEA.
As for the mothership project, a Fassmer design was selected last year for the Multi-Purpose, Mission Ship tender, but the tender was subsequently cancelled.
Now it appears that mothership project will be going to a Turkish shipyard. This means the stranglehold by Fassmer for ship’s design has been broken. Perhaps one day I will find out the reason for the stranglehold though I think I know the reason.
MMEA director-general Rear Admiral (Maritime) Rosli Abdullah when met at the agency’s media day on November 9 in Putrajaya named the shipyard but for the moment I am not naming the company as the contract has not been signed yet. He also did not specify the exact design selected for the project though he said the ship will be built in Turkiye.
An infographic posted by MMEA several days after the 2025 budget was announced stated that the mothership will cost RM350 million (see above). The director-general did not say how many more will be bought in the future but from the first vessel’s cost we know that a three-ship fleet – like the OPVs – will cost some RM1.050 bilion.
Perhaps the contract for the mothership will be made public at LIMA 2025. If this happened this will be the second Turkish shipyard to get a contract from Malaysia, after LMS Batch 2 of course.
— Malaysian Defence.
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View Comments (18)
At least its built by the ori designer/ builder
Marhalim, do you know if the work on LMS 2 already start?
AFAIK no
Yesterday German, now Turk, tomorrow I dunno, the fortunate favorite foreign design supplier changes. No inkling of Turks designs offered for MPMS.
Err any update for OPV2 and OPV3 though? between this mpms and finishing that remaining Opvs which is more priority to MMEA?
"the second Turkish shipyard"
Not the same builder of LMS, I suspect MPMS could be based on Dearsan's Multi Purpose Offshore Support Vessel.
The two new NGPV, are they 2 additional ships for the Tun Fatimah Class (bringing the total to 5) or just the actual remaining 2 that's currently being built?
Its NGPC lah, the Bagan Datok class, nothing to do with the Tun Fatimah class, which is described as OPV. NGPV is the Kedah class with the RMN. Second generation NGPV is the Maharaja Lela class.
Im more surprised the beancounters, politicians, and rakyat in general are accepting that all these LMS2 & MPMS ships are gonna build entirely at overseas yard, meaning ZERO local interest and no job creation. OTOH we see this massively overpriced leasing deal that must go thru local agents.
If all parties are now accepting the reality that its better to go direct, why not do everything direct, like leasing direct from Leo and such?
After what had happened with the LCS and the MMEA OPV, it is of course the right thing to do. Perhaps after the first ship is completed, the second and third MPM ships could be built locally.
"rakyat in general are accepting that all these LMS2 & MPMS"
The "rakyat" have bigger issues to contend with and weren't consulted anyway. The "beancounters" will do what they're told to.
Firdaus - "between this mpms and finishing that remaining Opvs which is more priority to MMEA"
The real question you should ask is which is more of a priority for the government?
IMHO we can build it locally but do not give 100% control to the local company. It must be a 70-30 or 60-40 partnership with the manufacturers as a check & balance. If the design is modular we can divide the modules. Let’s say design has 6 modules, 4 built by manufacturers & 2 by locals. On the subsequent ship, reduce the manufacturer modules & add more to locals. This way we can learn better & somehow the learning curve will not be like the lcs.