Middle East Shipbuilding Venture Kicks Off

Joint venture (Etihad Shipbuilding. Melara Middle East & Fincantieri) starts operations at Al Fattan Shipyard in Abu Dhabi

The joint venture, set up to concentrate on Middle East naval builds, kicks off by overseeing initially the maintenance and post-guarantee work on the first two of four “Saettia MK4” vessels delivered in recent years by Fincantieri to the  Iraqi Navy.

World name shipyard, Fincantieri is already building three vessels for the UAE Navy at the Italian shipyards of Riva Trigoso and Muggiano, an “Abu Dhabi” class corvette and two “Falaj2” stealth class patrol vessels - whose contracts include one option for the Abu Dhabi class and four options for the Falaj2 class -  due for delivery between the end of 2012 and early 2013.