Metal Shark delivers 4 to DCCG

JEANERETTE, La. – Alabama-Louisiana shipbuilder Metal Shark delivered four new high speed patrol boats Jan. 23 to the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard (DCCG) on the island of Aruba. The new Metal Shark patrol boats were acquired by the Dutch Ministry of Defense to bolster its capabilities in the Caribbean. DCCG will operate 12 Metal Sharks in the territorial waters of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, and Saba. Designed in-house by Metal Shark and built at the company’s Louisiana production facility, the new 38-foot Defiant-class welded aluminum mono-hulls are powered by twin Cummins Marine QSB6.7 diesel engines and can run in excess of 45 knots. The delivery represented the latest in a multi-year collaboration between Metal Shark and the Dutch Ministry of Defense, and end-users in Curaçao, Aruba, and St. Maarten. The final four vessels are currently en route to St. Maarten, according to Henry Irizarry, Metal Shark’s VP of international business development. Metal Shark has three shipbuilding facilities at Mobile, Ala., and Jeanerette and Franklin, La., which span more than 75 acres; and has 500-plus workers that build more than 200 vessels annually. (Source: Metal Shark 01/30/19)