Vietnam Coast Guard is very strong when receiving a series of new ships

The above comment was made by Mr. Masanori Hisaki, Deputy Chief of the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) Office in Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture, when speaking to the media about the capacity and equipment of the Vietnam Coast Guard.

Mr. Masanori Hisaki said: "The expertise and professionalism of the Vietnam Coast Guard is very good, from search and rescue to chasing away violating vessels. However, you need better equipment, especially more high-speed patrol boats and large ships."

However, when Vietnam receives a series of large patrol ships, the situation will change dramatically. Specifically, in 2018, Vietnam may receive the 3,250-ton USCGC Sherman (WHEC 720) Hamilton-class patrol ship.

The ship is considered the most suitable for the Vietnam Coast Guard due to its stationing location right on Honolulu Island in the Hawaiian Islands, the same location as the USCGC Morgenthau (WHEC 720).

Not only the US, another partner may also hand over to us a large patrol ship with a displacement of over 2,000 tons in 2018, which is South Korea. Within the framework of the Vietnam - South Korea defense policy foreign affairs event, the other side said it would consider handing over to Vietnam a used patrol ship.

With the characteristics of your country, patrol ships will be taken out of service and then donated after 30 years of service. Based on the above conditions, there is a very suitable candidate, which is the KCG Jemin with the registration number 1501, with a displacement of 2,200 tons, which has been on duty since 1988 and will be retired this year.

The durability of the hull of Korean-made patrol boats is considered quite good even after 30 years of service. The CSB 8001, a Song Han-class ship delivered by the other side in 2014, is a clear example.

In addition to the old patrol ships, another partner in the Northeast Asian region, Japan, has committed to providing ODA to Vietnam in a program to support maritime law enforcement capacity through the construction of six new ships for the Coast Guard.

According to initial information, the Japanese patrol ship built for Vietnam is part of a 500 million USD aid package divided between us and the Philippines, but the estimated value of the Vietnamese ship will be around 40 million USD.

The above data shows that the patrol ship that Japan builds for Vietnam will have a displacement of about 1,000 tons and the delivery time is in 2018 and 2019. Therefore, it is highly likely that we will receive the first ship from the middle of this year.

Finally, in the last days of 2017, Poland and Vietnam signed a contract to build 6 large search and rescue (SAR) vessels for the Coast Guard. The program has a total value of 200 million Euros (equivalent to 235 million USD, or an average of 40 million USD per vessel).

According to the contract, the Remontowa Shipbuilding Company in Gdańsk will be responsible for the construction of the first two ships, while the four ships of the second batch will be built in Vietnam, with the Polish side transferring technology, training human resources and providing necessary equipment.

With the capacity of the Polish shipbuilding industry, the prospect of your side handing over to us the first ship by the end of 2018 is very bright. In addition, the patrol fleet of the Vietnam Coast Guard is expected to continue receiving more DN-2000 multi-purpose patrol ships built by domestic shipbuilding enterprises.