The contract was signed by the Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Serhii Deineko and the Chief Executive Officer of OCEA Roland Joassard.

The contract was signed by the Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Serhii Deineko and the Chief Executive Officer of OCEA Roland Joassard.

Today, on July 22, 2020, in Mykolaiv shipbuilding plant Nibulon implementation of the governmental project of strengthening the system of maritime security and protection of border of Ukraine was launched.

It envisages the construction and receipt by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine of 20 state-of-the-art patrol boats of the French company OCEA within three years. The project is designed for 2024, and Ukraine will be able to receive the first boat in 2021.

Under the terms of the framework intergovernmental agreement signed in Paris on November 19, 2019 by the Ministers of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and France, a quarter of the order will be fulfilled by a domestic shipbuilding company using French technology.

The agreement was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on March 4, 2020. It provides loans by the French government and leading European banks for the construction of boats in the amount of 136.5 million euros.

The French company OCEA has chosen the shipbuilding company Nibulon as its Ukrainian partner. It will build five FPB 98 MKI vessels. It is a maneuverable patrol boat 32 meters long made of light aluminum, which develops a speed of up to 30 knots with a range of 1200 nautical miles and has a small draft for sailing in shallow water. Each vessel will be equipped with modern optoelectronic surveillance systems, RIB boats for border inspection teams. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine are working to equip new boats with modern weapons. FPB 98 MKI will be used to protect the state border on the water, surveillance, surveillance and control operations, search and rescue operations and countering sabotage and reconnaissance teams.

In addition to the signatories, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic Etienne De Poncins, the Director General of JV Nibulon LLC and the Hero of Ukraine Oleksii Vadaturskyi took part in the signing ceremony of the contract and memorandum of understanding. Representatives of state and local authorities and employees of the shipbuilding enterprise were also present.

A video conference with members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine was also held during the event.