Almada, Setúbal, Mar. 1, 2021 (Lusa) – Portugal's defence minister bade farewell to the ocean patrol vessel "Setúbal", which set sail on Monday from the Lisbon naval base for a new three-month European mission in the Gulf of Guinea.
The most recent vessel of the Portuguese navy, built at the Viana do Castelo Naval Shipyard and in service for just over two years, will take part in "international exercises, cooperation and naval presence in the seas off Angola, Cabo Verde, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe," and is the first coordinated maritime presence of the European Union (EU), a "pilot project" of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU.
"With this Open Sea Mission, we will inaugurate a new phase in the EU's maritime capacity. Instead of the various navies of the European countries carrying out their missions independently, autonomously, disconnected from each other, they will coordinate their presences, scheduling them so that there is continuity and passing on information in order to increase situational awareness. If successful, (the new formula) can be replicated in other regions," said Gomes Cravinho.
According to the government official, "the Gulf of Guinea, unfortunately, has proven to be a very unstable area, with 95% of the world's piracy cases.
"Eighty per cent of the EU's foreign trade goes by sea and some of it passes through the Gulf of Guinea: Cabo Verde is not far away, Guinea-Bissau is there too. It is a region of great interest to us," said the minister.
The "Setúbal" is commanded by Commander Dias Marques, with a crew of 58, "including a boarding team, a team of divers, a naval doctor and a trainee Naval Academy officer. It is a "non-combatant" unit with a vocation to "exercise functions of State authority and to carry out tasks of public interest in areas of national jurisdiction or responsibility".
This vessel is capable of "maritime search and rescue tasks, fisheries surveillance, control of traffic separation schemes, prevention and combat of marine pollution, prevention and combat of illegal activities such as drug trafficking, illegal immigration, arms trafficking and other illicit activities.
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