Friday, September 27, 2013

Royal Navy buys an ice breaker...HMS Protecteur.



via Naval Today.
The vessel has been on a bareboat charter to the buyer since the spring of 2011. The sale provides GC Rieber Shipping with an accounting gain of about NOK 370 million (around USD 61Mln), while the cash effect is NOK 485 million (around 80 million USD).
“HMS Protector” (ex “Polarbjørn”) was purpose-built in 2001 for long expeditions to the Antarctic and for subsea assignments offshore. The UK MoD, a long standing client of GC Rieber Shipping, has been using the ship as an icebreaker and patrol vessel for the Royal Navy in the South Atlantic and the Antarctic since 2011.
It has also provided support for UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and British Antarctic Survey. “HMS Protector” is the second vessel which MoD has chartered and later purchased from GC Rieber Shipping, the first one being “HMS Endurance”.
Irene Waage Basili, CEO of GC Rieber Shipping, comments: “We are very satisfied with the collaboration we have had with the MoD. They are highly professional and we have found them both challenging and rewarding to work with. We are known for having highly technical vessels and unique expertise for operations in icy waters and we see this transaction as an acknowledgement that a long-term customer is so satisfied that it wants to own our vessel. New investments in the ice segment are very interesting for us going forward.”
As part of the sale contract, GC Rieber Shipping will continue to support the vessel on a Contractor Logistic Support agreement for 1 year.
So....the Royal Navy isn't as broke as we were told.

And....

I wonder what info they have that is pushing them to buy an ice breaker?  Is something going on waaaay up North (or South) that I've missed? 

5 comments :

  1. Well, it's proof that at least the UK Navy doesn't believe the global warming propoganda put forth by the IPCC. http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/0013/CFACT/gullible_green_sailors.htm

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    1. i read an article on that! the global warming cult is in a tizzy because their theory is debunked and once the masses in Europe find out how much they've been jilted out of they're going to go insane. that's one of things the Republicans did right. they kept that carbon tax scheme at bay. the govt wants only one thing. more taxes. they got it with Obama Care and they wanted it with this carbon tax ripoff.

      our children's children are going to think we were all crazy when they learn about this time period.

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  2. Oil my dear Sol, oil. There is ocean's of the stuff below the southern, er, ocean! We have been sniffing around it for years and luckily for us it all lays within the Falkland's EEZ.

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  3. The ship was on a bareboat charter, then it was bought by RN. Not an unusual procedure, USN (MSC) has done similar many times. MPS went from time charter to purchased as USNS,

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  4. HMS Protector was leased following damage to the Antarctic Patrol Ship, HMS Endurance in 2008

    http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/The-Fleet/Ships/Patrol-and-Minehunters/Ice-Patrol-and-Survey-Ships/HMS-Endurance

    HMS Endurance herself was also leased before being purchased, you can read about the previous HMS Endurance and her exploits in 1982 here

    http://www.thedockyard.co.uk/NetsiteCMS/pageid/827/Falklands

    Covered the Protector a few times...

    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2011/05/hms-protector-ready/
    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2011/03/hms-protector/
    http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2012/04/navy-news-hms-protector/

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