Kuwait’s Marine surveillance department has contracted Spanish shipbuilder Freire Shipyard to build a new 42-meter fisheries surveillance patrol vessel.
The contract for this patrol vessel came into force in February 2018, Freire announced, and the vessel is scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The vessel is intended to provide support for the marine surveillance department of Kuwait in patrolling the local sea to spot fisheries illegal activity, support other small patrol boats and to carry out search and rescue operations.
This new vessel will be capable of reaching speeds of over 30 knots powered by two 2.880 kW engines and fixed pitch propellers. The double chine hull design will provide the vessel with required seakeeping capabilities, according to the company.
She will accommodate 16 crew members and will count with 7-meter rigid hull inflatable boat located aft with transom gates.
Freire Shipyard said the contract builds on the company’s previous experience of patrol vessel construction. The shipyard previously built three modern patrol vessels for the Spanish Navy, Alborán, Arnomendi and Tarifa, in addition to building a similar fisheries patrol vessel, the Anna Kakurukaze Mungunda, for Namibia.