Hellenic Coast Guard: tender launched for two offshore patrol vessels over 80 metres, with an option for two more – €492.8 million

The Hellenic Coast Guard is launching, for the first time, a tender for offshore vessels longer than 80 metres. Shipping Minister Vasilis Kikilias announced on Friday, November 13, at an event at the ministry, the launch of an international tender for two Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) with a helideck, with an option for two more. The total budget, including the option, reaches €492.8 million.

A helideck, drones and multi-day missions

The new ships are designed for long endurance and missions lasting many days, even in bad weather. The deck will have a helideck able to take helicopters of up to 11 tonnes. Their equipment includes modern surveillance and detection means, thermal cameras, support for unmanned aircraft (UAV) and rigid-hulled inflatable boats, so that intervention teams can reach the sea quickly. Their mission includes surveillance of the maritime borders, search and rescue, the pursuit of smugglers and illicit trafficking, and policing at sea, with emphasis on the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The procedure chosen is competitive dialogue, as provided by Article 41 of Law 3978/2011. The contracting authority is the Special Service for Strategic Procurement, through the Hellenic Development Bank’s unit that handles strategic contracts. The ships are expected to be delivered 30 months after the contract is signed. The project is co-financed by the EU’s Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI) 2021-2027. On funding, Kikilias thanked Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris and his ministry’s staff.

Open to Greek shipyards

The minister stressed that Greek shipbuilding will be able to take part in the tender, an industry that, as he said, “has hurt us badly for many decades.” He added that he expects “big international players” to take part as well. Among those present were Skaramangas Shipyards Vice Chairman and CEO Miltiadis Varvitsiotis and representatives of Greek shipyards. Kikilias called the project “very ambitious, but we will deliver it,” with “absolute transparency.” The Coast Guard recently signed a €23.8 million contract for seven fast patrol boats (our report), and the minister announced new tenders for pursuit boats of 18 and 30 metres. He also referred to the tender already under way for the new Operations Centre, which will use artificial intelligence to give an immediate picture of the seas, ports and maritime borders.

A programme of more than €1 billion

From the Hellenic Development Bank, deputy CEO Panagiotis Stamboulidis said it has undertaken to prepare and tender, on behalf of the ministry, a modernisation programme for the Coast Guard’s equipment worth more than €1 billion, based on the experience of the AEGIS programme. According to him, deliveries of the new equipment are expected to begin in 2027 and continue in 2028.

For Coast Guard chief Christos Kontorouchas, the project, the first of this scale the Coast Guard has launched, marks “the new day of the Hellenic Coast Guard.” He explained that the service will now operate on the open sea, protect critical infrastructure and carry out search and rescue much farther than before, while it will also need to police marine parks. The next step is crewing the new ships. The Coast Guard also took part this year in the “NEMESIS 2026” exercise in Cyprus (our report).