Senegal: New patrol boats for Dakar at last

Walo, Niani and Cayor are Senegal's three newly built OPV 58S for Maritime Defence and State Action at Sea missions along its 300 kilometres of coastline. Piriou Group, a privately owned shipyard group based on the south coast of French Brittany, has delivered these three 62-metre multi-purpose vessels to the West African coastal state fully equipped and has once again proven itself to be a competent manufacturer of small but well-equipped guard boats. Just over four years have passed since the contract was signed until all three boats and their trained crews were transferred to Dakar within the last nine months. Equipped with Marte anti-ship missiles, Simbad/Mistral anti-aircraft defence and light artillery, they will now form the coherent backbone of the Senegalese navy, as its fleet was characterised by outdated or mostly single samples of small units of lightly armed patrol boats. It is precisely this new assertiveness that is needed in an area into which the threat of piracy from the Gulf of Guinea could spread.