The oceanographic scientific research vessel Baía Farta, which is undergoing repairs in South Africa, will be delivered to the Government of Angola in April 2024, following overcoming the anomalies detected during the first sea trial carried out in the country, in 2021
The announcement was made yesterday, Tuesday, in Luanda, by the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Carmen dos Santos, during the Regional meeting of the SADC Fisheries Monitoring, Control and Inspection Commission.
“Fortunately, the oceanographic vessel is in the final phase of conforming the unconformities it had and it will be here by April, therefore, in a month”, he guaranteed.
Minister Carmen dos Santos said that the ship had a problem with the probe, necessary to carry out environmental measurements, but that it has already been resolved and will soon be in the country to respond to the concerns that the Government raised regarding having it built.
The scientific ship remains docked in Cape Town, South Africa, where the company responsible (Damen) for the repairs has its shipyard.
Inoperative since 2021 After its arrival in the country, the vessel underwent the first phase of sea tests/trials, which took place from the 1st to the 8th of April 2021, in national and international oceanic waters, to assess the overcoming of non-conformities and faults detected. along the route Romania (country of origin)/
Angola, a successful trial.
Subsequently, Baía Farta carried out its second scientific cruise in Angola, in July 2021, an operation that was suspended, indefinitely, for tuning/calibration of the ship’s peripheral equipment.
This anomaly arose following the first demersal trawl cruise (fishing for species on the seabed, such as sparrows, croakers, snores, groupers and other types of school of commercial interest, carried out from 25 May to 3 June 2021, in the Region North of the country.
However, from 2021 to the present date, the device continues to be stopped to repair the aforementioned non-conformities. With a length of 74.1 meters, the Angolan ship has the capacity to board 51 people (29 crew members and 22 scientists) and an autonomy of 29 days at sea.
The ship, costing around 80 million dollars, has an acoustic room, four laboratories, a gym, double cabins, kitchen, service area with 15 command monitors and three computers for controlling the Sonar (an electronic device generally used , in naval navigation, to measure the distance between the water surface and the seabed).