Vietnamese Navy has signed contract to build Roro 5612 multipurpose amphibious transport ship designed by Damen.

December 27, 2019, Vietnamese Navy has signed a contract to build a new Roro 5612 multipurpose amphibious transport ship designed by the Dutch Shipbuilding Group Damen and constructed at Song Thu Corporation in Vietnam. This is the fourth Roro 5612 class of the Vietnam Navy that will receive YN541056 number.

Roro 5612 multipurpose amphibious transport ship. (Picture source Damen)

The RoRo 5612 vessel was already built in Vietnam for the Royal Bahamas defense force. It was launched at Halong Shipyard in Vietnam, July 2019, according to Damen statement.

While Vietnamese shipyards have produced these ships in the past for foreign countries, this is the first time the Vietnam People's Navy has ordered this vessel. Additionally, there are currently three extra RoRo 5612 ships built by Vietnam for Venezuela that were never delivered due to the ongoing Venezuelan political/social crisis.

According to the specification published on the official website of Damùen shipyard, the RoRo 5612 is a landing craft fitted with a 25-tonne crane. This vessel is equipped with equipment for disaster relief with a roll-on, roll-off landing craft for emergency relief operations.

The deck equipment of the RoRo 5612 includes one anchor winches 3x DMT 10 m/min, one deck crane 14 tons at 19.50 mtrsan and a capstan 3 tons, 15 m/min.

The RoRo 5612 is operated by a crew of 16 people. It measures 23.3m in overall length, 57.27 m in floatation length and 3.9 m in width. It is powered by two 2x MTU type 12V2000M61/1A engine and it can sail at a maximum speed of 10.5 knots at 250 tdw. Navigation and communication equipment includes a GMDSS A3 Radar, a magnetic compass, gyrocompass, GPS, echo sounder, autopilot, AIS, and a speedlog.