Head of the Ministry of the Interior: new patrol vessel for the Maritime Unit of the Border Guard in Polish waters

A patrol vessel to be handed over to the Maritime Border Guard Unit is already in Polish waters. Technical acceptance of the unit has begun, the head of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, Mariusz Kamiński announced on Tuesday. The unit will operate mainly in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

“The new SG-301 vessel has already been in Polish waters since today. Its technical acceptance has begun. The patrol vessel will soon be handed over to the Maritime Branch of the Border Guard”. – wrote the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration on Twitter on Tuesday (X).

The new patrol vessel arrived in Poland from France and entered the port of Gdansk on Tuesday morning. Now, the acceptance tests are being carried out by, among others, maritime technology specialists from the MOSG. If they end positively, the vessel will be delivered to the formation.

The MOSG signed the contract to construct the patrol vessel in October 2020 with the French shipyard Socareanam. The formation reported that the value of the contract for the construction and delivery of the patrol vessel was close to PLN 111 million. The construction is 90 per cent financed from the European Union’s Internal Security Fund and the remainder from the state budget.

In recent days, the portal money.pl wrote that the French shipyard, due to a price increase, demanded from the Polish side a surcharge of around EUR 5 million, i.e. around PLN 22.5 million. However, Border Guard spokeswoman Lt. Anna Michalska said that the amount requested by the shipyard was PLN 4 million.

Without an agreement, the French referred the case against the Border Guard, represented by the General Prosecutor’s Office, to the court in Gdańsk. The Border Guard spokeswoman points out that the formation must be transparent and compliant with the public finance and procurement regulations, especially on the issue of spending beyond the contract.

“Verification activities are underway to clarify any doubts about the contractor’s claims. If everything ends positively and, above all, the technical acceptance ends positively, we as the Border Guard will pay the contractor the full remuneration included in the contract,” – Lt Michalska said.

The Border Guard informed that the offshore patrol vessel OPV (offshore patrol vessel) with the side number SG-301 will have an unlimited navigation area. It is to perform tasks to protect the maritime borders of Poland and the external maritime borders of the European Union – mainly in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

“It will be used, among other things, to reveal attempts to cross the EU’s maritime borders in contravention of regulations, to counter illegal migration and to transport waste and harmful chemicals across maritime borders. The unit will be able to participate in rescue and humanitarian operations,” – reported the Border Guard.

The patrol vessel is nearly 70m long, 11.5m wide and has a draft of about 4.5m. It can perform tasks without calling at a port for at least 12 days with 35 personnel (including 20 permanent crew members).

Source: PortalMorski.pl