South American nations continue to invest in hospital-ship construction and missions to bolster their riverine operations.

On 28 December the Peruvian shipyard SIMA laid in its Iquitos facilities the keels of Plataformas Itinerantes de Acción Social (PIAS) RíoUcayali I and PIAS RíoUcayali II, which will sail the Ucayali River and provide assistance to communities across 17 districts in Loreto and Ucayali regions.

In Brazil, construction continues at the shipbuilding company Estaleiro Bibi Eireli, which on 22 October commenced building in Manaus state, the hospital ship NAsH Anna Nery

Squadron 2020 covers the procurement of four new Pohjanmaa-class corvettes. (RMC)

Norwegian company Vestdavit has been awarded a contract to supply the davits that will equip the four new Pohjanmaa-class corvettes being procured for the Finnish Navy under its Squadron 2020 corvette programme.

Under the agreement, Vesdavit will supply eight of its high specification telescopic davits – two for each ship.

Announcing the contract on 1 February, Vesdavit said its davits were selected for their high level of reliability and redundancy for the rapid-response launch and recovery of interceptors and other craft in difficult sea conditions.

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding has conducted sea trials for the Philippine Coast Guard's (PCG's) first 97 m multirole response vessel (MRRV).

The vessel conducted the trials in waters near Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works between 25 and 28 January, the PCG announced on its official social media channel on 2 February.

The trials were conducted to validate the vessel's speed, manoeuvrability, functionality of equipment, and safety features. Also present during the trials were the vessel's pioneering crew, and representatives from Japan Marine Science Incorporated, and Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (NK) Classification Society, the service added.