Metal Shark signs boat-building contract with Jamaica, delivers patrol…

Guyana recently took delivery of Metal Shark 115 Defiant patrol boat. (Metal Shark)

Metal Shark is augmenting its footprint in the Caribbean with a recent boat-building contract with Jamaica, and a delivery of a patrol boat to Guyana.

The Louisiana-based shipyard will be building and maintaining 22 Metal Shark 36 Fearless speedboats for the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), according to a recent contract between the yard and the JDF, Metal Shark confirmed on 2 May.

The Fearless vessels, acquired via direct purchase, will be operated by the JDF Coast Guard, the shipyard said. The Fearless has a length of 11 m, a max speed of 55 kt, and comes equipped with a Furuno navigation package with radar, a FLIR thermal imaging camera, and Ullman shock-mitigating seating, according to Metal Shark's release.

The fleet of new boats will assist the coastguard with “law enforcement, patrolling, and interdiction missions within Jamaica's exclusive economic zone”, the company said.

For more information on Jamaican defence operations in the region, please seeCaribbean militaries train for Haiti mission .

As for the Guyana patrol boat, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) reported on 21 April the arrival of its new 115 Defiant vessel.

The GDF's future GDFS Shahoud (1039) is a welded aluminium monohull vessel with a length of 35 m, a cruise speed of 16 kt, and a max speed of around 30 kt. Josh Stickles, executive vice-president at Metal Shark, told Janes on 2 May the patrol vessel “will now join the eight other Metal Shark interdiction and patrol boats currently in service with the GDF”.