38 metre Sea Eagle Offshore Patrol Craft
• Govt procures vessels, boats to checkmate crude oil theft, piracy on Nigerian waters
THE GUARDIAN
Wednesday, 01 August 2012
(Maritime Watch)
THE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) may take delivery of three vessels with which to monitor the lifting of crude oil from all terminals, in the attempt to get accurate record of crude oil sales in the country, before the end of the year.
The vessels are expected to be positioned, on delivery, offshore to take accurate record of crude oil loading and record of refined petroleum products that are imported into the country.
The plan to procure the vessels is coming on the heels of the delivery of four patrol boats for effective patrol of the country’s waterways and to control all criminal activities, including oil theft, within the nation’s territorial waters
With the procurement, safety on the Nigerian coastal and territorial waters is expected to be enhanced by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) which is also planning to procure and take delivery of eight more patrol boats for the same purpose before the end of the year. The boats were procured under safety concession contract awarded to Global West Vessel Specialist (GWVS) early this year.
According to the agency’s Director-General, Mr. Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, who test-run the platforms recently, the boats were of high standards and one of the fastest moving boats in Nigeria. The boats: NIMASA Burutu, NIMASA Port-Harcourt, NIMASA Lagos and NIMASA Warri were specifically built to withstand any adverse effect and tropical weather, hence their suitability for the control of piracy and illegal activities in the country’s territorial waters.
Akpobolokemi said that the boats would help the agency to fulfill one of its mandates by ensuring that the country’s waters were safe for navigation.
On the speed capacity of the boats, the NIMASA boss explained that they have the ability to perform 50 nautical miles per hour. “The boats, as far as I am concerned, with the experience I got in the test-run and with the comments, observations and feelings from the user department they are in conformity with our standards. The boats are just to go back to our mandate; we want to perform our statutory obligation. What NIMASA Act has told us to do is what we want to put into practice, from environment to safety and safety to security.
“This is just the beginning of more and more vessels of different configurations that will come. As for the cost, it is the private company that will know how much they have invested in it,” Akpobolokemi added.
Speaking on the specification of the boats, Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, GWVL, Capt. Romeo Itima(recently deceased), said that each of the boat had four outboard engines, each with 300 horsepower, and totalling 1200 horsepower.
He explained that the engines and bodies of the boats were bulletproof, making them difficult for pirates to target the crew onboard. Itima added that each of the boats could do 200 nautical miles before refuelling and that they were equipped with state-of-art technological facilities.
The GWVL boss promised that his company would soon take delivery of 16 other boats under the contract with NIMASA. The boats, he said that were being constructed in different parts of the world. According to him, the boats were billed to arrive the country before the end of September
It appears some people were REALLY UNHAPPY with the progress being made by Nimasa and GVWL. Please show us pictures of these speed boats when they arrive@ 4 x300 H.P. OUTWARD BOARD ENGINES IS A LOT ,Now how far out to sea that they can venture is another question. However to be able to go 200 NAUTICAL MILES without refueling because theoretically that is what Nigeria claims as their SECURITY sphere of influence, is a good thing.
Forget the patrol boats, Jimmy. Focus on the VESSELS and note the keywords – “shall operate OFFSHORE”, LOADING(read FPSO), PIRACY. Note the differentiation between “vessels” and “boats” as well. Note also that the vessels are a modest 3 units(bigger and costlier) while the boats are 16(smaller, cheaper). Bodes well.
Could we be lined up to receive some baseline(not so large) OPVs? Could we be on the cusp of receiving more Sea Eagle Offshore Patrol Craft?
Beegeagle shall be locked onto this one and our quest for more details shall see us searching far and wide.
Those are the consequential vessels which I am looking forward to. As for the boats, I do not expect those to be larger than Manta ASD Littoral Interceptors MAX but they are more likely to be 12-15m platforms.
One more thing. Do these NIMASA people not feel the need to carry Nigerians along? They cannot even give simple technical data of the platforms. All the boats which they have been operating prior to these new acquisitions, have we seen them? Their helicopters? It would kill a dollar-denominated NIMASA to arrange an operational tour for the media to see and have a feel of what they do, their facilities, daily chores, training, equipment?
How much would it cost to host and pay honorarium to journalists? We just hear that they received new boats. On the day that they were launched, Nigerians did not need to see or NIMASA know better than the Navy who have shown us the deliveries of Shaldag FPCs, Manta ASD Littoral Interceptors, Sea Eagle OPCs, the commissioning of NNS Thunder and NNS Andoni between 2009 and 2012.
I think NIMASA have a major communication deficit. Has anyone seen a photo of a NIMASA boat or helo? The first and only time that I saw a few of their boats was on NTA News and it had to do with footage from the Joint Benin-Nigeria Anti Piracy Task Force TG 11.1.
Please somebody tell NiMASA to wake up. For now, their style is just archaic – too dull and uninspiring.
great news
Okay gentlemen, the Maritime Guard Command’s new armoured patrol boats, of which four were delivered recently, each cost $2 million to acquire. Four down, sixteen more coming.
http://thenationonlineng.net/2011/feed/business/maritime/56613-nimasa-gets-n1-3b-bullet-proof-boats.txt