It’s called Al Fulk, it’s an LPD amphibious unit which stands for Landing Platform Dock which guarantees extremely efficient land-air-sea links, and it was launched in Palermo at the Fincantieri plant that built it for the Qatar Navy. The ship is part of a contract worth almost four billion, signed in 2016, which involved the supply of seven surface vessels, including four corvettes over 100 meters long, one amphibious vessel (LPD – Landing Platform Dock) and two patrol vessels (OPV – Offshore Patrol Vessel). A contract that also included support services in Qatar for a further 15 years after delivery of the units.
Crosetto: «Palermo strategic shipyard: vocation for ferries»
The launch was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Qatar, HE Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, and the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto who underlined the great potential of the Fincantieri plant in Palermo: «It is an important moment because from 2009 a complete ship did not come out of what is now the largest shipbuilding plant in Italy. An important moment for Palermo, therefore, for Fincantieri. We hope it will be the first in a long series of ships, and not pieces of ships, to come out of this shipyard, which is the one that has the most logistical possibilities in Italy and is probably the shipyard that has the best manpower and the largest quantity of specialists in steel processing in Italy – said the minister -. This is the last of this series but there will be ships in the future that can be built in Palermo – said the minister -. Here there is a very strong vocation on ferries. So the prospects for this shipyard can be excellent in the future».
The ship has a length of about 143 meters, a width of 21.5 and will be able to accommodate about 550 people on board. She is equipped with two vehicle ramps and a floodable internal dock capable of accommodating a ready-to-use Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) landing craft which can also be placed on the garage deck and can be deployed using a crane system. The flight deck is also sized to accommodate the NH90 helicopter.
Folgiero (Ad Fincantieri): «Qatar program is vast»
«The Qatar program is a vast program and foresees other naval units that must be delivered – says Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Fincantieri -.. But the most important challenge of the Qatar program is that then, together with the whole Italian system in Qatar , we will then put into operation and assist the entire maintenance phase in the life cycle of the ship: this is very important because we need not only build the ships but we must accompany them, we must also create a collaboration that does not end with the construction but continues. The most beautiful part of this project is the after construction which will last a few years and which will be another moment of strong collaboration with that country». As far as Palermo is concerned, Folgiero explains: «Palermo’s great opportunity is also a rebirth of the ferry sector which is a sector in which Fincantieri has very deep roots and which today there will be an opportunity to relaunch both because we need to renew the fleets and because we need to refit these fleets with a view to energy transition. You know there are also funds allocated in this sense and Fincantieri wants to be a protagonist in this let’s call it the renaissance of ferries and Palermo is, shall we say,
the best possible site both from the point of view of references and from the point of view of the site itself. There are both the technical skills of the shipyard and the expertise of the workers to be a protagonist in this renaissance of ferries»
Schifani: «The Region will give important orders»
The ceremony was attended, among others, by Staff major general (Sea) Abdullah Hassan Al-Sulaiti, Commander of the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces, team admiral Enrico Credendino, Chief of Staff of the Navy, Army Corps General Luciano Portolano, Secretary General of Defense and National Armaments Directorate, Khalid bin Yousef Al-Sada, Ambassador of Qatar in Rome, Paolo Toschi, Ambassador of Italy in Doha, Renato Schifani, President of the Sicily Region, Roberto Lagalla, Mayor of Palermo. «Today we celebrate the work of our shipyard, a shipyard of extraordinary excellence, of men and women who work in a professional manner – was the comment of the president of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani -. I’m here because we believe in industry and in the development of our land. The Region will also give work to construction sites with important orders. Today we celebrate this, but we continue to work in the interest of Sicily. I am truly proud to be here to bear witness to the presence of the Region and the pride of the Sicilians».