The Cameroon Navy has acquired a new floating dock from China to repair and maintain its naval vessels, according to a 4 May announcement.
The floating dock was completed in China in 2018 and was subsequently delivered to Kribi, Cameroon on 13 July that same year after leaving China in May.
The dock is 64 metres long and 21 metres wide and requires water ten metres deep to accommodate ships with a displacement of up to 700 tons.
The Cameroonian Navy released photographs of a Swiftships 12 m patrol boat (PR 001), entering the dry dock and naval personnel working on its hull. “This type of operation will continue for all the fleet’s ships,” the navy said.
The Swiftships 12 m patrol boat PR 001being repaired in the Cameroon Navy’s new floating dock. (Cameroon Navy)
The Swiftships 12 m patrol boat (PR 001) is one of the few survivors of 30 such boats that were delivered in the late 1980s under a US military assistance programme.