Vestdavit to provide davits for French Navy’s OPVs

Norwegian equipment supplier Vestdavit has secured an order to deliver multiple davits and painter booms for a series of French Navy’s offshore patrol vessels (OPVs).

The davit deal covers delivery and commissioning of a total of 14 PLR-5004-type davits, as well as 14 PBH-2500 painter booms, for the seven OPV newbuilds – two davits per vessel.

The vessels are being built as part of the French Ocean Patrol Vessel Program, or Patrouilleur Océanique.

The program, which includes options for three additional OPVs, entails construction of the vessels at the French yards Piriou, CMN and Socarenam, with deliveries scheduled to run from July 2025 to September 2029.

“We are very pleased and honoured to have been selected for this highly coveted multi-davit order, which underpins the valuable trust placed in our systems by Nato navies across the globe and further reinforces the well-proven reliability of our PLR series of davits,” said Vestdavit Managing Director Rolf Andreas Wigand.

Vestdavit developed the PLR-5004 davit for launch and recovery of RHIBs to meet the specific requirements and integration constraints of the Patrouilleur Océanique program outlined by the Naval Group during the preliminary study and design phase of the newbuild project. The project is being implemented by the French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA).

The PLR series is designed to handle efficient launch and recovery of a wide range of interceptor craft, such as MOBs, FRCs and smaller RHIBs of 2000-7500kg in sea states up to 4, according to the company.

The davit can be built to a modular, skid-mounted design for easy installation and maintenance, and can be exchanged between ships to meet changing davit requirements, with the ability to switch out removable components that enable upgrades for larger boats.

To remind, Vestdavit signed a contract to deliver four davits for Australia’s evolved Cape-class offshore patrol vessels (OPVs).