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Two vessels will be purchased by the Romanian Border Police

 signing of the commercial contract in order to build and purchase of two maritime patrol vessels that will enter the endowment of the the Romanian Border Police took place.

The contract was concluded between the General Inspectorate of Border Police, through the General Inspector of Border Police Quaestor Liviu Bute and Damen Shipyards Gorinchem B.V. Netherlands, represented by Stephen Stout, sales manager for Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, for the acquisition of two means of naval mobility.

The value of the contract is 129,944,250 lei without VAT (26 million euros), a project carried out from non-reimbursable European funds, through the Internal Security Fund (ROFSIB2018OS2ASP02 – Acquisition of the means of naval mobility necessary for Frontex), the ships will get in RBP endowment by 30.11.2022.

These vessels are part of a larger project involving the supplementation of the RBP naval fleet, in which, in addition to the two maritime patrol vessels (CPV – Coastal Patrol Vessel) they will acquire five intervention boats (CPB – Coastal Patrol Boat).

The acquisition of maritime patrol vessels and intervention boats confers to the Romanian Border Police an increase of the operative intervention capacities, these being destined for the surveillance of the external maritime border of the European Union and the observance of the Romanian state jurisdiction in the area of competence, ensuring the waters from the exclusively economic area, for patrolling missions, maritime safety, search and rescue operations and transportation of survivors.

This acquisition will lead to the improvement of the operational cooperation within the joint Frontex operations in which the Romanian Border Police participates, without depriving the operative structures at the Romanian borders of such technical means for long periods of time.

The representatives of the economic operator decided to also engage the capacities of the production units from Romania – DAMEN Galati and Mangalia Shipyards in the construction of the two ships.

The Romanian Border Police manages 2,070 km of the European Union’s external border, of which 255 km are on the Black Sea. With the ships in endowment, they must achieve a cohesive and efficient surveillance device, whose continuity in time and space permanently ensures the coverage of a maritime space of approx. 20,000 km2 (inland maritime waters, territorial sea, contiguous area and exclusive economic zone).

In the context of managing the migration phenomenon at the external borders of the EU, the acquisition of maritime patrol vessels and intervention boats is opportune for fulfilling the commitments of the Romanian Border Police, undertaken with the Frontex Agency, as regards the secondment of technical equipment in joint operations at the EU’s external maritime border.