OCEA and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGSU) inked a € 136.5 million contract for the procurement patrol boats on July 22, 2020. A total of twenty 32-metre patrol boats have been ordered by Ukraine, five of which will be built directly in Ukraine, in Mykolaiv. These vessels will ensure the country’s sovereignty in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, OCEA comments.
The contract includes « partial financing from loans from both commercial banks and from the Treasury loan of the Ministry of Finance of France. The loan is provided by the state of France. Ukraine will 15% from the budget, while the remaining 85% will be provided by the loan, » explained the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs. France offered a comprehensive approach to credit financing and agreed to localize 25% of the production in Ukraine.
In addition to the production and supply of ships, the project consists in a comprehensive service offer which includes training of 240 crew members and 120 technical personnel, spare parts and tools required for maintenance during 2 years of operation (or 2400 hours), and technical support in Ukraine within 60 months from the date of delivery of the first ship.
For the record, Ukrainian and French governments were negotiating for the joint production of 20 FPB 98 patrol boats designed by the OCEA shipyard in June 2019. The Government of Ukraine finally gave its green light for the procurement of the patrol vessels in November that year. It was announced last month that local shipyard Nibulon Shipbuilding has been selected to build five of the patrol vessels.
About OCEA FPB 98 Patrol Boat
OCEA’s 32 meters-long FPB 98 patrol vessel has a crew complement of 13 sailors and features a maximum speed of 30 knots.
The French shipyard has sold a number of FPB 98 ships around the world, including to Benin, Suriname and Nigeria. Algeria recently started taking delivery of an additional batch of 10 boats after having received 21 FPB 98 vessels between 2008 and 2012.
