Estonian border guards to get new patrol boat

TALLINN (BNS) – A new patrol boat, the Vapper, to be completed at Tallinn's Baltic Ship Repair Yard at the end of May, will replace the 44-year old PVL-100 received as a gift from Finland when Estonia was still setting up its border guard service.

Vapper will be a ship similar to, but more up-to-date than Pikker, built at the Baltic Ship Repair Yard in 1995, a representative from the Border Guard said.

The Vapper is in a boathouse of the Baltic Ship Repair Yard waiting to be painted and fitted out with installations, upon which the ship will undergo testing.

According to the contract the ship must be handed over to the Border Guard Department by May 26.

It is up to builders to make sure the ship will have a maximum speed of 27 knots and a displacement of 117 tons. The ship will be 31.4 meters long and six meters wide. It will get a crew of six people. The 38 million kroon ($2.33 million) Vapper will be the third vessel built in Estonia since the restoration of independence on the Border Guard Department's commission.

The Estonian border guard needs at least five more similar ships.