Steel cut for Portugal's first new replenishment ship

A concept graphic of the 137 m replenishment ships for the Portuguese Navy. (STM)

A steel-cutting ceremony marking the start of construction of the first of two Multi-Purpose Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment (AOR+) ships for the Portuguese Navywas held at ADA Shipyard in Istanbul, with Turkish shipbuilder STM acting as the primary contractor, on 14 November 2025.

The contract for the construction of the two AOR+ and Logistics Ships was signed on 17 December 2024 in Lisbon. It came into force in April 2025. The keel-laying is expected in January 2026, and the delivery of the first ship, Luís de Camões, is scheduled for April 2028. According to STM, there will be an eight-month interval between the delivery of the two ships.

Developed with a modular design, the vessels are intended to perform various missions beyond traditional at-sea replenishment. In addition to transferring fuel and cargo, each ship will be able to transport up to 20 light tactical armoured vehicles via a stern roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ramp, enabling the platforms to support joint force projection and amphibious operations.

The vesselsʼ flexible configuration is designed to allow them to undertake humanitarian aid, disaster relief, medical support, and search-and-rescue tasks. An integrated communications system is intended to provide command-and-control (C2) capability to co-ordinate fleet-level operations.