Iraq’s Assad corvettes were delivered after a 26-year delay. Two Assad-class corvettes that were built in Italy for Iraq in the 1980s have finally been delivered on the heavy carrier Eide Trader.
Fincantieri built six Assad- class corvettes for Baghdad in the 1980s, but none of them were delivered due to the imposition of a UN arms embargo on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Four were sold to Malaysia, while Musa Bin Nussair (F 210) and Tariq Bin Ziad (F 212) remained at La Spezia with Iraqi skeleton crews.
The arms embargo was lifted in 2003, but there was a protracted dispute about the fate of the ships. The Italian embassy in Baghdad announced in May 2014 that Fincantieri and the Iraqi government had signed an agreement that paved the way to ending the dispute, saying the shipyard would modernize the vessels before they were delivered. However, there is no indication that this modernization took place before the ships were delivered. Ridgeway International USA Inc. was charter broker and agent for Eide Marine Logistics A/S on this sensitive and successful heavy-lift transport.
Ridgeway International is a member of CLC Projects representing the United States (East Coast)
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