Tuesday, October 27 2009

click on pic to zoom in

EN ROUTE: One of the three Austal off-shore patrol boats en route to Trinidad and Tobago. ...

THREE of six off-shore fast patrol boats ordered by the TT Coast Guard (TTCG) from Australian shipbuilder Austal have begun a 33-day trip across the Pacific Ocean en route to this country and are expected in time for November’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

According to a report on the Maritime Today website, the boats, half of a fleet expected to cost about TT$390 million, were recently subjected to sea trial runs in Western Australia.

“Ordered in 2008, half of the six-vessel fleet has already commenced a 33-day delivery voyage to Trinidad and Tobago, with the remaining three on schedule for completion at the end of the year,” the report read.

“The first three vessels — TTS Scarlet Ibis, TTS Hibiscus and TTS Hummingbird — departed Austal last month and are likely to be available for the 2009 CHOGM held in Trinidad and Tobago in November.”

The 98.4ft patrol boats are equipped with general purpose machine guns and a 20mm cannon. The lightweight vessels are capable of achieving speeds of more than 40 knots as well as small tactical diameters and short crash stop distances. They are designed to enable the TTCG to provide sustained surveillance in the country’s internal waters, the archipelagic territorial sea and its exclusive economic zone.

In the Maritime Today report the Director of Trinidad’s Defence Transformation and Integration Secretariat Garnett Best, said the TTCG has been impressed with the performance of the vessels so far.