Germany Awards $2.4 Bln Naval Shipbuilding Contract

The German defence procurement agency said on Tuesday it has awarded a contract valued at nearly 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) to a consortium of shipbuilders led by Lurrsen Werft for five new corvettes to be delivered from 2022 to 2025.

The agency said the contract would give the German navy additional proven warships to keep up with its increased responsibilities within the NATO alliance.

The consortium also includes Thyssenkrupp and German Naval Yards, which had undertaken legal action to be added to the group.

In July Germany's competition regulator, the federal cartel office, said it would not block moves by Lurssen and Thyssenkrupp to expand the consortium after finding no evidence of antitrust concerns.

The companies decided to join forces after a German court upheld a protest that German Naval Yards had filed against the ministry's decision to skip an open competition for the corvettes, a decision that was then challenged by the ministry.

A spokesman for Lurssen welcomed news of the contract for a second batch of the K130-class warships.

"With the contract signing, we have crossed a significant milestone toward realisation of this project," the spokesman said.


($1 = 0.8361 euros)

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Greg Mahlich)