Moroccan Navy boat construction to begin on July 3, 2023 at Navantia’s facilities in the Bay of Cadiz, announced Spanish Finance Minister María Jesús Montero. The construction of the state-of-the-art Avante 1800 ship will be incorporated into the Royal Navy and will be carried out thanks to a €90 million loan granted by Banco Santander Rabat. However, the loan will only cover part of the purchase of the patrol boat, which is priced at between 130 and 150 million euros.
Navantia had proposed the construction of two patrol boats for the Royal Moroccan Navy worth 260 million euros.
Navantia’s manager had explained at a press conference that the project would require one million man-hours for around 250 jobs over a period of three and a half years. However, the construction of ships will create around 1,100 direct and indirect jobs in the Cadiz region.
Union sources have already announced the start of construction work for the Royal Moroccan Navy patrol boat in July. This order was possible thanks to the new dynamic in relations between Morocco and Spain, which began after Pedro Sánchez’s support for the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, announced on March 14, 2022. In October of the same year, the Moroccan government also decided to give the green light to a loan of 95 million euros, concluded on August 31, 2022, with Banco Santander SA, relating to the financing of the commercial agreement concluded between the management of the National Defense and the company Navantia SA was signed.
The tender for the construction of the ship was launched in April 2020 and the winner of the contract was announced more than two years ago, in January 2021.
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The Avante 1800 patrol boat is a modern high-rise ship that will strengthen Morocco’s maritime defense and surveillance capabilities. It is 89 meters long and 13.3 meters wide and can accommodate an average crew of 46 people.The original design provided for the installation of a 76mm gun and missile launch system, as well as modern sensors and radar equipment, and a bridge for a helicopter.
