Estonian workboat builder Baltic Workboats has signed a contract worth close to €40M to build five 26-metre search-and-rescue vessels for Denmark’s coastal rescue service.
The order comes from FMI, the materiel and procurement agency of the Danish Ministry of Defence, which buys on behalf of Kystredningstjenesten, the service that responds to maritime emergencies off the Danish coast. The vessels will operate from five stations on the North Sea coast of Jutland — Esbjerg, Hvide Sande, Thyborøn, Hanstholm and Hirtshals — where breaking waves in storm conditions can reach eight metres. The builder is the Saaremaa shipyard, which builds aluminium and steel workboats at Nasva.
Baltic Workboats’ hull is built to survive a capsize
The class is designated PATROL 26 WP UltraSAR. Design work took more than 20 months, Äripäev reported, and Danish rescue crews were closely involved in the development, Postimees reported. Like the yard’s other patrol and rescue boats, it uses Baltic Workboats’ wave-piercing hull, which is shaped to cut through oncoming seas rather than ride over them, and is designed to right itself after a capsize and stay afloat when flooded.
The 26-metre aluminium vessel carries a crew of two to six and has space for 20 rescued people. It reaches 30 knots, according to the builder’s specifications, is classed by Lloyd’s Register and carries a daughter boat — a jet ski or a rigid inflatable — for work close to shore.
Deliveries scheduled for 2027 and 2028
The Danish ministry told parliament’s defence committee that the five boats, designated motor rescue boats, or MRB, are expected to be delivered through 2027 and 2028, with crews taking each boat into service after a short conversion course at its station. Because the vessels handle civil tasks only, the order was run under ordinary public procurement rules rather than defence procurement rules, the ministry said.
Part of a wider fleet renewal
The contract sits inside a broader replacement of Denmark’s rescue fleet: 33 new vessels at 19 of the country’s 21 rescue stations by 2030, split between motor rescue boats, Danish Rescue Vessels and smaller fast-response craft. In February 2025, FMI signed a separate contract with Norwegian builder Maritime Partner for seven Danish Rescue Vessels for stations in the Kattegat and the Baltic, an investment of DKK 341.4M.
Contracts across northern Europe
Baltic Workboats employs close to 200 people at Nasva. According to the public data, its revenue rose 26.6% to €65.7M in 2025, and net profit reached €3.2M. The Danish order extends a run of public-sector contracts for Estonian shipbuilders — pilot boats for German and Danish ports, a €110M order from Belgium’s state-owned DAB Vloot for an 80-metre pilot station vessel, and rescue vessels for Ukraine’s search-and-rescue service. The company also coordinates EUROGUARD, a €95M European Defence Fund project to develop a semi-autonomous naval vessel, which is being built at the same yard.
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