VESSEL REVIEW | Mar de Galicia – Locally built coast guard boat to serve Spain’s Galicia region

The Coast Guard Service of the Spanish autonomous region of Galicia recently took delivery of a new FRP patrol boat built by a local shipyard.

Mar de Galicia (“Sea of Galicia”) is specially designed to perform command and control, surveillance, inspection, marine environmental protection, and fisheries enforcement missions in the coastal waters of its namesake region. It is also the fifth vessel to be built for the coast guard service by the same shipyard.

The vessel, which was designed specifically for the Galician Coast Guard Service, has an LOA of 40 metres and a beam of 8.4 metres. The builder claims it is the second-largest FRP offshore patrol vessel to be built in Europe, a close second to another patrol vessel constructed by the same company for the Spanish Tax Agency.

Mar de Galicia‘s hybrid propulsion system consists of two 1,500kW diesel engines and a 200kW electric motor. This configuration offers various modes of use from 100 per cent electric, wherein the main engines are switched off, to combining electric and conventional propulsion to obtain a top speed of 27 knots.

The vessel is designed to be capable of five days of continuous operation without external assistance even under a range of weather conditions. At a cruising speed of just over 13 knots, it can cover 900 nautical miles before requiring refueling.

The vessel also has space for seven crewmembers and up to five additional personnel. The accommodation spaces include a conference room/lounge, a galley, a mess, and cabins. In the wheelhouse are communication and navigation electronics supplied by Simrad.

An equipment package from Fluidmecanica includes an electric anchor windlass, the vessel’s steering gear, and the bow thrusters. Deck space is available for a seven-metre-long rigid inflatable boat (RIB) from Neuvisa, a crane, and a hydraulic net hauler.

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