The abnormal cost overrun of the new supply ship of the Spanish Navy

It's always cause for celebration when the Spanish Navy acquires new ships, but not at any price, and that's not the best way to say it.

The greetings left by other ships in the BAC 'Patiño' A-14 of the Spanish Navy
The Spanish invention that the 'Patiño' carries and that you will not see on ships of other navies

Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance announced that it has authorized the modification of the spending limits to finance "a new program to modernize Army supply ships".

In fact, reading the text of the statement, it's clear that this is a ship for the Navy, not the Army. The government's inability to distinguish between the two branches of the Armed Forces is surprising, but there's something even more surprising. The text states:

Currently, the Navy has two Supply Ships, the A-14 ‘Patiño’, delivered in 1995, and the A-15 ‘Cantabria’, delivered in 2010. The ‘Patiño’, with 30 years of service, is in its last third of life. Therefore, the main objective of the program is the replacement of this ship with a new BAC that incorporates the latest advances in ships with similar characteristics and more up-to-date systems.

Further down, the Ministry of Finance's statement states: "The total budget for the program amounts to 703 million euros."

That figure has caused astonishment, and not without reason. On January 24, 2024, during a visit to Ferrol, Pedro Sánchez announced the construction of a new combat supply ship for 439 million euros. Here you can hear the Prime Minister's statement indicating that figure in a video published by Europa Press (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

Thus, without the construction of the new ship having even begun, we already have an overrun of 264 million euros. The overrun is even more inexplicable if we take into account that, according to the newspaper El Periódico, the BAC "Cantabria" A-15 cost 240 million euros at the time of its construction (it was laid down on July 18, 2007, and launched on July 21, 2008).

On the other hand, according to the prestigious British agency Janes, in May 2016 Australia signed the purchase of two sister ships of the BAC Cantabria for 500 million US dollars. Taking inflation into account, that amount would be 666.2 million dollars at the current exchange rate, that is, about 596 million euros for two ships.

On the other hand, according to the newspaper Abc, the aircraft carrier "Juan Carlos I" L-61, whose construction began on May 20, 2005 and was launched on March 10, 2008, had an initial budget of 360 million euros, which rose to 462 million. Taking inflation into account, the initial price would currently be around 547 million euros and the final price (taking as a reference the date of his commissioning in the Navy, September 30, 2010) would be around 636 million euros today.

Thus, the government intends to build a BAC at a higher cost than an aircraft carrier, and that's without taking into account that the current cost overrun of 264 million euros will likely increase during the construction of the new ship. I hope the parliamentary opposition demands an explanation for this, because it's not normal.

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Main photo: Elentir. The combat supply ship (BAC) "Patiño" A-14 at the Spanish Navy's naval parade held on June 2, 2017, in the Pontevedra Estuary to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Royal Company of Midshipmen, the origin of the current Marín Naval Military School.