VESSEL REVIEW | Danish builder secures repeat ambulance boat order with Hellenic Coast Guard

The Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) recently took delivery of a new high-speed ambulance boat built at the local facilities of Denmark-based boat builder Viking Life-Saving Equipment.

The newbuild is one in a series of five ambulance boats that Viking is supplying to the HCG under a contract awarded by Greece's shipping ministry in the middle of 2021. All five boats are near identical sisters of three earlier vessels that were delivered to the HCG in 2020. However, the newer boats will support emergency services for Sporades, Samothrace, the Saronic Gulf and the Ionian Islands, whereas the earlier boats are stationed in Naxos, Rhodes, and Leros in the Aegean Sea.

The vessel is notable for utilising an existing Viking oil rig daughter craft design that has been modified for the medical evacuation role. Certified by Italian classification society RINA, the boat can operate safely up to Beaufort Force eight and at wave heights of up to four metres.

The ambulance boat has a hull made from fire-retardant FRP, an LOA of 11.95 metres, and a beam of 3.51 metres.  An HVAC-equipped cabin in the bow comes with a toilet plus seating for two patients, a doctor, and two nurses or emergency medical technicians. Shock-mitigating seats are available for up to 10 people including the two crewmembers.

The onboard medical area, which is also the largest compartment on the vessel, houses an array of treatment and life-support devices including a defibrillator, a ventilator, an oximeter, an oxygen supply system, a laryngoscope, splints, and even surgical tools so that urgently needed procedures can be performed on patients even while the boat is underway. When not in use, these devices are to be stored in lockers that have also been fitted in the equipment area.

Two stretchers can be mounted on a set of shock-absorbing hydropneumatic mounts. These features allow patients with severe injuries that limit their movements to be kept as stable and as comfortable as possible even during high-speed transits.

The control console in the wheelhouse also comes with two multi-function displays through which the crew can watch radar images as well as the live feed from the boat's own rear-view camera. A 1,150-litre fuel tank enables the boat to sail for up to 350 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 35 knots, though the twin Volvo Penta 283kW diesel engines can deliver a top speed of 45 knots even at full load.

The newly delivered HCG ambulance boat is stationed at Samothrace.

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