New patrol boats join Coast Guard fleet |15 February 2020

Hoisting the Seychelles national flag onboard one of the vessels (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

The Seychelles Coast Guard, the maritime arm of the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF), has added two new Wave Rider inshore patrol boats, Thorpe and African, to their fleet of vessels.

Patrol boats Thorpe and African, which have been named after two local fishing banks, have been constructed and donated by the government of Sri Lanka.

They were manufactured by the Inshore Patrol Craft Construction Project of the Naval Boat Building Yard in Sri Lanka, which has constructed and delivered over 100 Wave Riders.

Armed with two machine guns each, the Wave Riders are 15 metres long, equipped with jet propelled engines and have the capacity to carry up to 10 personnel onboard.

Former Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena officially handed over these patrol boats to Vice-President Vincent Meriton in February last year in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The donations of the two boats followed a request by the President of Seychelles, Danny Faure, during a bilateral discussion held with his Sri Lankan counterpart, President Sirisena, during a state visit to Seychelles in October 2018.

Yesterday’s ceremony however was the official induction of the patrol boats into the fleet wherein two naval officers hoisted the Seychelles national flag onboard Thorpe and African.

The induction ceremony was attended by the chargé d’affaires for the Sri Lankan high commission in Seychelles, Tharushi Gunathilake; chief of defence forces Colonel Clifford Roseline; commissioner of police Kishnan Labonte; commander of the Seychelles Coast Guard Colonel Simon Dine; as well as members of the Defence Forces Council and officer from the Sri Lankan Navy and SPDF.

In his speech for the occasion, Colonel Roseline noted that the addition of Thorpe and African “will enhance the capability of the Coast Guard for undertaking EEZ surveillance, rapid intervention and safeguarding our sensitive maritime areas, and also boost our fight against maritime piracy and other maritime crimes”.

He added that the new patrol boats expect to complement efforts and plans for SPDF to expand and hold a greater presence in the outer islands.

It was also revealed that Thorpe and African will soon be joined by another patrol boat of the same class commissioned by the Seychelles government, of which construction has been completed.

In regards to the strong bilateral relationship which has existed between Seychelles and Sri Lanka for over 30 years, Colonel Roseline said: “The mutual understanding and deep cooperation between Sri Lanka and Seychelles is a matter of great pride and well known to both island states, that shares the same ocean, and considered as neighbours.”

“The induction of patrol boat Thorpe and patrol boat African […] is a manifestation of the enhanced cooperation between Sri Lanka and Seychelles which has withstood the test of time and continues to grow from strength to strength.”

Colonel Roseline concluded by also thanking the Indian Navy and Indian government for accepting to transport the two boats from Sri Lanka to Seychelles – a task undertaken by INS AIRAVAT earlier this month.

On her part, the Sri Lankan chargé d’affaires, Mrs Gunathilake, noted that the induction ceremony of the two ships donated to the Seychelles by Sri Lanka is a landmark event which solidifies the three decades of deep bond between the two Indian Ocean states.

As per the usual tradition, Thorpe and African were blessed by SPDF chaplain, Deacon Louis Agathine, after which guests were invited to tour and take a ride on the vessels followed by viewing of photographs depicting Seychelles-Sri Lanka military partnerships.

Elsie Pointe