Australian patrol vessel Ocean Shield arrives Chennai

The offshore patrol vessel Australian Border Force Cutter (ABFC) Ocean Shield has arrived at Chennai Port on Thursday as part of International Co-operation. The ship was part of the extensive search operations to trace the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH-370 in 2014.

The ship will be at Chennai until May 20.

  

A series of programmes have been planned by the Indian Coast Guard for mutual interaction to develop Inter-Operability among the maritime forces.

  

Coast Guard sources here today said that the ship was constructed as an Offshore Support Vessel by STX OSV, Tulcea, Romania and was later inducted as ABFC Ocean Shield, an Offshore Patrol Vessel on June 30, 2012.

The ship achieves the maximum speed of 16 kt with a displacement of 8,500 tonnes and draws 6.6-meter draught.

 

A medium size helipad is available atop the bow of the ship, which also has 1,000 square meters deck area for cargo and equipment.

  

The ship has a complement of 16 Officers and 36 sailors.