Turkey's Ares Shipyard has landed the country's biggest ever ship order.

It will build 122 vessels for the Turkish coast guard, it said, without putting a value on the deal.

The units will be handed over during the next six years.

They will be used by the coast guard and the General Directorate of Security, which is getting 17 of the vessels.

The yard has previously delivered eight ferries in 2014 and 2015, but Clarksons lists it with no other orders at present.

Part of the ships' role will be to counter illegal immigration.

Production starts in August, the shipyard said.

Ares general Manager Utku Alanc said: "We will deliver the prototype ship as of December 2020.

"The prototype ship will be tested by the Turkish Coast Guard Command teams for two months in the Black Sea, Aegean, Mediterranean and Marmara, in all our seas, all our territorial waters."

Mass production will begin next year.

"Delivery of six boats every two months will be on the agenda. This means equipping and launching one boat every week," Alanc added.

"This will be a record in the history of shipbuilding in the world."