Minister of National Security, the Hon. Wayne Munroe was on hand to witness the loading of three Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) ships onto the Yacht Servant Amsterdam ship to be transported to Holland for repairs on Sunday. The vessels include the HMBS Rolly Gray, HMBS Arthur D. Hanna and the HMBS Cascarilla.
Munroe told reporters the repair of the vessels is part of a $50 million overhaul project. He said, “they’ve not been necessarily run as they ought to be to manufacturers specs, dry docking has been missed. We’ve determined to correct that. We’ve determined to treat the vessels as they should be treated so we get the maximum use out of them.”
All three vessels have been out of service for some time. The HMBS Rolly Gray has been grounded since October 2023, the Arthur Hanna has been out of service since 2017 and the Cascarilla vessel has been out since the pandemic.
The national security minister said the government intends to address the maintenance of other vessels as well. “We have other vessels that we set for dry dock. The HMBS Durward Knowles just came back from dry docking. We have the 30 meter vessels, I think, Kamalame, Madeira, Ligum Vitae that will need docking. So you cannot not pay to have the vessel up and running and this is something, as I say, this administration takes very, very seriously,” Munroe said.
RBDF Commodore, Floyd Moxey was also present. He revealed Bahamian mechanics and others will travel to the Netherlands to observe. “They will be doing some maintenance to prepare these vessels for the refit at the damage shipyard and it’s a good learning experience for them. They have an opportunity to see how maintenance begins on the ship,” Moxey said.
According to the Commodore the RBDF needs to spend more than $50 million in the next five to ten years to sure up the Defence Force and its assets.
The RBDF commissioned four 41 foot safe boats in May of this year. They also received nine legend class vessels and a Damen Stan Lander 5612.
