Project Biro - Multi Mission Inshore Patrol Vessels (MMIPV)
In February 2018 Damen Shipyards Cape Town (DSCT) received an order from Armscor – the acquisition agency for the South African Department of Defence – for three Inshore Patrol Vessels (IPV), 62 x 11 metres. The vessels form part of the South African Navy’s Project Biro. The project aims to develop South Africa’s maritime security, ensuring that the country has the capability to respond effectively, rapidly and cost-efficiently to maritime threats such as illegal trafficking and fishing. The three Stan Patrol 6211 type patrol vessels were ordered from the Dutch group Damen in December 2017 as part of the Mission Inshore Patrol Vessels (MMIPV) program, one of the components of the BIRO project of the South African Navy.
Damen Shipyards Cape Town (DSCT) builds ships in Africa for Africa. To date, the yard has constructed & delivered 40 vessels to the African continent from its base in Cape Town, including offshore patrol vessels, dredgers, tugs, naval craft and platform supply vessels, some of which have been built for stock in order to ensure fast delivery. The DSCT Services & Repairs department has provided training, delivery, maintenance & repairs assistance to countries across the globe and especially to African countries seeking to source high quality services from South Africa.
The initiation of Project Biro, the OPV and IPV project, was already delayed by a decade because of the fallout from the controversy-dogged R30bn arms deal in 1999. The storm of allegations of corruption around that deal turned public opinion against further naval acquisitions.
Damen Shipyards Cape Town (DSCT) launched the first of three Multi-Mission Inshore Patrol Vessels (MMIPV) procured by ARMSCOR for the South African Navy (SAN) on 25 March 2021. The vessels will augment South Africa’s maritime security by enhancing the country’s capability to respond effectively, rapidly and cost-effectively to threats such as illegal trafficking and fishing.
The keel laying ceremony for the new vessels took place 25 February 2019. The tradition involves placing a newly minted coin under the keel (the primary structural backbone of the ship around which the hull is built) and building over it. The coin laid at the DSCT event was a commemorative medal made in honour of the late President Nelson Mandela’s 1993 Nobel Peace Prize win. The keel bar is then lowered on top of the coin and welded closed – a privilege that went to Nobelungu Tshangase from Velddrif on the West Coast, the top performing apprentice at Damen’s training school. The school has educated over 150 young people from previously disadvantaged communities since 2010.
As of May 2020 the program was on schedule and the first vessel was under construction and is planned to be delivered middle 2021 as per contract. Steel cutting for the second vessel had commenced. The risks during development and production was considered low as the vessel design is mature and the shipyard has already built a number of similar vessels. Budget shortfall due to reduction in SCAMP allocation after 20/21 is becoming a serious risk, as Armscor would have a contractual obligation to honour invoices during those years. No adjustment for inflation and ROE had been made since 2017 and require urgent correction. Schedule faced delays due to COVID-19 shutdown.
DSCT Project Manager, Ian Stewart said the March 2021 launch was an important milestone for the shipyard. “This is the culmination of three years of hard work by a dedicated team of people. Ultimately, more than one million man-hours of work will be invested in the construction of the three MMIPVs.”
The more than 600-ton vessel was transported from the DSCT shipyard on the evening of 23 March 2021 to the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) synchrolift at the Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront Basin. The move was conducted by Mammoet South Africa, using 48 axle lines of Self-Propelled Mobile Transporters (SPMTs) to provide precision movement.
Mammoet Project Manager, Uzayr Karimulla, says while moving the vessel at night meant less impact on traffic, the reduction in light came with its own challenges. “Through careful planning, close collaboration, and the teamwork between DSCT and Mammoet South Africa, our team made this move a success. We are very happy to have been part of the project, contributing to the advancement of safer waters in Southern Africa.” Once the vessel was raised onto the synchrolift, the team waited for high tide to come in before moving it out of the V&A Basin via TNPA tugs towards the Elliot Bason. The testing of the ship systems would commence before the vessel was officially be delivered to ARMSCOR/SAN, before the end of 2021.
The MMIPVs are built according to the patented Damen Axe Bow design, which ensures low resistance, high sustained speed in waves and superior sea keeping characteristics in the toughest conditions. As vertical accelerations are reduced significantly and bow slamming almost eliminated, the safety of the vessel and crew increases considerably, reducing operational risks. The multi mission deck is used for supporting diving, search and rescue and anti-piracy operations.
DSCT HR & Transformation Manager, Eva Moloi, says DSCT is particularly proud of the many years it has invested in local South African skills transfer, training, and entrepreneurship development and collaboration, which have resulted in a strong South African pool of scarce trade skills and supplier partnerships. “Our local skills transfer and Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) initiatives mean that we are not only contributing to the South African economy but ensuring that our local South African maritime market is less reliant on imports from international suppliers. DSCT fully supports the transfer of technology, inclusion of local companies in the execution projects, and stimulation of export transactions under the Defence Industrial Participation (DIP) programme, which particularly focuses on benefiting SMMEs, Military Veteran (MV) Owned Entities and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Compliant Entities. The partnerships formed during this project have led to the successful launch of the MMIPV. One can truly state that the MMIPVs have been built in South Africa, by South Africans for South Africa,” she adds.
The engineering of the vessel commenced in 2018 and the keel was laid in February 2019. “Despite the COVID lockdown period, our local skills and partnerships, resilient production schedule and advanced planning capabilities of our Cape Town team, allowed the different subcontractors and teams to work on the vessel in a safe manner,” notes Moloi.
Defence analyst and former Defence Review committee member Helmoed Romer Heitman was of the opinion that "the three 60 m IPVs now envisaged as part of Biro are an embarrassing misstep by the Navy and will be an entirely pointless expenditure," because, "at 60 m they will be too large and complex to be the ‘cheap and cheerful’ equivalent to the old SDPs, to be used for close inshore work and more importantly to train and develop officers and ratingsǽ_ªÝAt 60 m they will be too small to be really useful (the strike craft were good special operations platforms, but had the speed and the self-defence capability these vessels will lack.
"The Navy’s experience with the strike craft demonstrated that 60 m is precisely the wrong hull length for SA waters: Shorter and the ride is lively but dry; longer and the ride is more comfortable and dry. At 60 m it is uncomfortable and wet, with real risk of damage in rough seas. Remember how many of the strike craft found themselves inadvertently doing a submarine crash dive imitation in rough seas.
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