OCEA despatches first FPB 98 MKIs on order for Ukraine

A screen capture of a video footage showing the merchant vessel, M/V Gaja , transiting northbound through the Bosphorus Strait from Saint-Nazaire, in western France, loaded with two FPB 98 MKI patrol boats, on 23 May. (Yoruk Isik)

French shipbuilder OCEA has despatched the first two of 20 FPB 98 MKI patrol boats on order for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

Video imagery captured by a Turkish independent ship spotter showed the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged merchant cargo ship, M/V Gaja, transiting northbound through the Bosphorus Strait from Saint-Nazaire, in western France, loaded with two FPB 98 MKI patrol boats in the early morning hours of 23 May. The merchant ship arrived later the same day at the Port of Constanţa in Romania.

The FPB 98 MKI boats are being built under a contract awarded to OCEA by the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior in July 2020. The contract follows an initial government-to-government agreement between France and Ukraine signed in November 2019 for the 20 FPB 98s. Under the original contract terms, five of the boats were to be built locally at Nibulon Shipyard in Mykolaiv. The contract includes crew training, ship maintenance, and the provision of technical assistance to Ukraine.

The patrol boats spotted onboard the M/V Gaja were unarmed and all identifiable markings indicating that the boats belong to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine were covered with what appears to be white adhesive film. The boats have grey hulls and a white superstructure.