Vard Holdings Limited (“VARD”), one of the major global designers and shipbuilders of offshore and specialized vessels, stated that the surveillance vessel “Marjata” was named at Vard Langsten by the Norwegian Prime Minister, Mrs. Erna Solberg.
The vessel was contracted by the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation in 2011 and will be operated by the Norwegian Intelligence Service. It is especially equipped for surveillance activity in the Barents Sea and the High North, and is one of the most technologically advanced of its kind world-wide.
The naming ceremony for the vessel took place on 6 December 2014 and was attended by the Minister of Defence, Mrs. Ine Eriksen Søreide, as well as high-ranking representatives of the Norwegian Armed Forces and Norwegian Intelligece Service.
The hull of the vessel was constructed at Vard Tulcea in Romania, and it is currently being outfitted at Vard Langsten. The vessel will be delivered from the yard in 1Q 2015, and will enter operative service for the Norwegian Intelligence Service in 2016. The new vessel, named “Marjata”, replaces a predecessor by the same name, also built at Vard Langsten and in operation since 1995.
Kjell Grandhagen, Director Norwegian Intelligence Service, commented, “The naming of Marjata is an important milestone in the process towards the vessel entering into operative service in 2016. The new Marjata will be an important element in the continuation of the Norwegian Intelligence Service’s mission in the High North, and represents a modern resource which will contribute to secure Norway’s information needs for the next 30 years.”
CEO and Executive Director Roy Reite added, “At VARD we are proud to have been assigned the task to build this unique and important vessel. It is proof of the technological capabilities of our yards as well as the Norwegian maritime industry as a whole.”