DESPARDES — Bangladesh’s Khulna Shipyard has begun construction of a second batch of five Padma-class patrol vessels on order for the Bangladeshi Navy (BN).
The keel-laying ceremony for the 50.4 meter-long vessels, which can reach a top speed of 23 knot, was held in December at the company’s facilities in the southern city of Khulna. The ceremony was attended by Admiral Aurangzeb Chowdhury, the BN’s chief of naval staff, among others.
BN already operates five vessels of the class, all of which entered service in 2013. They were built in Bangladesh by BN-owned Khulna Shipyard in collaboration with mainland China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding through the China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Corporation (CSOC).
The contract for the second batch was signed with Khulna Shipyard on 20 May 2019, with the shipyard signing a new collaboration agreement with CSOC nine days later.
In December, China handed over two ex-PLAN frigates to Bangladesh Navy, says a report.
The BN said in a statement that the 2,200-ton diesel-powered ships were transferred in a ceremony held on 18 December at the Shenjia Shipyard in Shanghai after being overhauled.
According to Chinese media, the BN procured the two ex-PLAN frigates under a deal signed in June 2018.
Separately, the BN announced on 22 December that it had decommissioned its Chinese-made Yuch’in-class coastal survey ship BNS Tallashi, which entered service in 1983.
