Ukraine to build military and patrol ships Ukraine is going to start manufacturing military and patrol ships for

its Navy a t Nikolayev and Kherson shipbuilding yards. The recent visit to the Netherlands of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resulted in an agreement to form a Ukrainian-Dutch working group to enhance cooperation in s hipbuilding between Ukraine and Damen Shipyards. The Smart-Holding (SMG, Smart M aritime Group) managers were among those attending the meeting. The owner of the Ocean shipbuilding plant (Nikolaev), SMG, also controls two of the largest shipbuilding companies in Ukraine, Chernomorskiy Shipbuilding Plant (CSP) and Kherson Shipyards. PSC "CSP," the largest domestic and one of the most powerful European companies, was founded in 1897.Its unique shipbuilding capacities, high autonomy and constr uction of more than 1,000 ships enable the concern to participate in any shipbui lding project. The plant has already manufactured four container ships for Damen Shipyards Berg um. It is a good example of its cooperation with the Netherlands and is apparent ly the reason for establishing a joint working group.The working group is suppose d to actively promote the construction of military and patrol ships for Ukraine. The Damen Shipyards global construction group whose annual turnover exceeds 1 bi llion USD was founded in 1955. It is located in the northern Netherlands and own s over 50 shipyards worldwide.Its production facilities and equipment are designe d for construction of complex and complete ships.The company can provide a wide r ange of services, from planning and design to construction, delivery and post-sa les service.The company currently specializes in short and deep water cargo ships , tankers and naval ships with displacement of up to 14 tons. The Dutch company is ready to provide support and assistance in attracting a lon g-term funding for construction of Ukrainian warships.Damen Shipyards plans to at tract financial resources of Western European banks with the participation of th e insurance agency Atradius (The Netherlands). As previously reported, in December 2009, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and CSP signed a contract to supply "Corvette" class ships for the country's navy.On e of the developers of the project was the company "Research and Design Center o f Shipbuilding" (Nikolaev). To finance "Corvette" project, funds in the amount of 16.2 billion UAH have been committed.The project is scheduled to last through 2021. Offset: Some 2 billion UAH will be spent on a military project "Corvette"