Welcome to Maritime Security Week!

The requirement for maritime security, or patrol, search and rescue, vessels seems to grow inexorably. Who would have thought that the global boom that commenced in response to the 9/11 Saudi terrorist attacks on New York would continue for twenty years?

Of course, it was not just terrorists who drove the boom. Piracy also boomed and continues to this day, especially in the Gulfs of Guinea and Aden, the Singapore Straits, the South China Sea and Venezuela. Drug smuggling affects almost every coastal country and the littorals and inland waterways require almost continual policing. At the same time, accidents never stop happening and survivors have to be searched for and rescued.

Thus, the maritime security vessel market remains strong. Apart from financially benefiting designers, builders and equippers, this has led to considerable important improvements in vessels and their equipment and modes of operation. That benefits all of us and gradually spreads to other sectors such as fishing boats, ferries and yachts.

Assault Craft • Interceptors • Patrol • Police • Coast Guard • Naval

As in all our Maritime Security Week features, the following shows a selection of the latest vessels launched, along with new designs and equipment. It makes clear that many interesting and valuable developments continue to occur in this market sector. They occur globally and in vessels having all shapes, sizes and roles.

For example, this week we feature vessels designed and built in four countries, and two of the vessels will operate in two different countries. Three are smallish – around 10 metres – RIBs and one is a 20-metre FRP craft. Their speed capabilities range from 20 to 50-plus knots. Two of the RIBs are even amphibious, in a most interesting way.

The RIBs are multi-purpose and are being used for both police and naval purposes while the larger training vessels are for a European navy. All are versatile and adaptable. They offer a very interesting cross-section of what is available to the global market.

Vessel Reviews:

• Offshore-capable RIBs for Asian naval operator
• Vermont State Police adds durable, versatile response boats to fleet
• Bustelo Pavon & Perez Verdu – New training vessels delivered to Spanish Navy
• US Navy’s newest interception and boarding craft feature amphibious self-deployment capability

News, Gear, and Book Reviews:

• Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard takes delivery of Guardian-class patrol boats
• East Asian navy to build local variant of Israel’s Shaldag Mark V patrol boat
• First steel cut for future US Coast Guard cutter Friedman
• Argentine Navy’s newest Gowind-class patrol vessel floated out
• US Naval Research Laboratory to test shark skin-like, low-drag surface on UUVs
• Chinese yard launches new patrol boat for Dongguan Public Security Bureau
• BOOK REVIEW | U-Boat Commander Oskar Kusch: Anatomy of a Nazi-Era Betrayal and Judicial Murder
• Fisheries enforcement vessel delivered to Chinese agriculture ministry
• Spanish submarine Isaac Peral floated out
• Australian DOD takes delivery of new Guardian-class patrol boat for Solomon Islands
• Russian Navy’s newest cruise missile submarine enters service
• GEAR | Rolls-Royce to supply generator sets for US Navy frigate program
• US Coast Guard modifies contract to construct third offshore patrol cutter, acquire long lead time material for fourth
• Egyptian Navy commissions newest frigate
• Sea trials completed for Royal Canadian Navy’s second AOPS
• US Navy seizes illicit weapons cache in North Arabian Sea
• Spanish Tax Agency takes delivery of OPV
• Queensland DES’ newest patrol boat to help protect Great Barrier Reef
• Ten rescued after overloaded fishing boat sinks off Cebu, Philippines
• Indonesian Navy frigate rescues tanker crewman who fell overboard in South China Sea
• UK’s Brightlingsea Harbour orders new pilot boat
• US Navy reports harassment by Iranian boats in Strait of Hormuz
• Construction approved for two more polar icebreakers for Canadian Coast Guard
• China deploys ships to aid in salvage of sunken Indonesian submarine
• Keels laid for two new Pakistan Navy ships
• US Navy commissions expeditionary sea base Miguel Keith
• Ferry runs aground off Suwangi Island, Indonesia
• Fire incident reported on India’s sole aircraft carrier
• AU$155 million earmarked for upgrades of Australia’s Cairns naval base

Recent Important Features:

COLUMN | Egypt: a rapidly emerging maritime power [Nazal Gazing]

“The prime catalyst for the Egyptian Navy’s growth has been the regional security situation, which includes unstable governments, territorial disputes, and terrorist activity.”

– by Trevor Hollingsbee, Baird Maritime‘s maritime security expert and columnist

OPINION | US naval intrusion exposes India’s political weakness

“The US 7th Fleet’s statement that it was ‘challenging’ India seems a provocation, suggesting that Washington disregarded the enduring strategic partnership it enjoys with New Delhi.”

– by Sarosh Bana, executive editor of Business India and the regional editor for the Asia–Pacific of Naval Forces

OPINION | Beware the bear in the Pacific

“Russia will not leave the Pacific and it is not beyond imagination that one day it could again be a partner, even an ally.”

– by Steve Raaymakers, veteran practitioner in international development with a focus on environmental security, small island states, oceans governance and integrated marine resource management in the Asia–Pacific

Remember to come back every day to see the latest news, opinion and vessel reviews!

Call for content!

Any news or views about the global maritime security sectors? Send it through to [email protected] ASAP (between now and May 14), so we can add it to this current edition of Maritime Security Week!

We are after:

• Vessels – Orders, new deliveries, under construction
• Gear – Latest innovations and technology in the maritime security vessel sector
• Interviews – Owners, operators, water police, navies, coast guards etc.
• Reminiscences – Do you have any exciting, amusing or downright dangerous anecdotes from your time in the maritime security world? (example here)
• Other – Any other relevant news

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