The Nigerian Navy signed a contract with a Turkish company, Messrs Dearsan Shipyard Limited for the purchase of 2 brand new Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs). The 2 vessels are expected to be completed within 37 months. The contract signing ceremony was another milestone achievement by the Nigerian Navy in naval fleet renewal effort towards realizing 2021-2030 Strategic Plan. The President Muhammadu Buhari granted approval for the Nigerian Navy to procure 2 High Endurance Offshore Patrol Vessels with the capability to carry out maritime interdiction operations, surveillance and special forces operations as well as provide naval fire support to land forces.
The Nigerian Navy has in the last couple of months brought to bear her dominant status in the region by sustaining an aggressive presence in the nation’s maritime environment, leading to drastic reduction in acts of criminality in the domain. This development has been acknowledged by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in its Global Piracy Report of 14 July 2021, indicating the lowest total of piracy and armed attacks against ships in 27 years. According to the CNS, this report was corroborated by the Defence Web maritime security report of 15 October 2021 which noted further decline in reported cases of piracy and armed attacks against shipping in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), a development he attributed to the impact of NN maritime security operations efforts.
The Offshore Patrol Vessel 76 (OPV 76) designed by Dearsan Shipyards to meet the operational requirements of the littoral waters. These patrol boats conduct patrol and security duties in or around harbors & coastal areas. The OPVs will also be capable of conducting search and rescue operations, anti-piracy, anti-smuggling and anti-drug trafficking operations and disaster relief operations among others. The hull of the ship is built from AH-36 steel and superstructure is Sealium. The OPV 76 is 78.6 meters long and 11 meters wide. The draft of the ship is 2.9 meters and the displacement is about 1200 tons. It can reach a top speed of 26 knots, and has a range of 3000 nautical miles with economical speed. The ship can be operated by a crew of 46.
Messrs Dearsan Shipyard Limited (Dearsan) is a modern shipyard, which operates in Istanbul, Turkey. DEARSAN Shipyard has the ability to build 9 ships of various types at the same time with its 126 m long skid, 15.341 m2 closed ship building site, 15.870 m2 open area and 31.211m2 total area. DEARSAN specializes in the design and construction of private military ships, with the integration of weapon systems, as well as in the construction of complex commercial ships such as tugboats, fuel/chemical tankers, fast passenger ferries. DEARSAN shipyard has proved its worldwide design, engineering, fabrication and installation capability with its facilities and experienced workforce.
