The Swedish Navy will be participating in the EU mission to secure seaborne food supplies to Somalia, with a view to preventing pirate attacks off the Somali coast. The Swedish mission will involve the Swedish Navy corvettes HMS Stockholm and HMS Malmö, accompanied by the support vessel HMS Trossö.
Kockums has refitted the vessels for this international operation. For Kockums, this also means organizing a rapid-response capability, in case of a serious breakdown. The mission also demands support and maintenance services.
Swedish Navy corvettes HMS Stockholm and HMS Malmö, with the support vessel HMS Trossö, are already en route to Somalia. Navy base personnel have loaded the vessels aboard the heavy-lift semi-submersible M/v Eide Trader, which may be described as a ‘self-propelled floating dock’. Loading and lifting was conducted in the Karlskrona archipelago, west of the island of Tjurkö.
Once loading was completed, M/v Eide Trader re-docked at the Kockums wharf, where the naval vessels were welded into position and additional cargo was loaded, including several containers with stores and spares.
The vessels and their crews will provide naval protection for the UN’s seaborne food supplies to Somalia. This mission is of vital importance. The Swedish task force will start its mission off Somalia on May 15th, with the deployment scheduled to terminate on September15th. Kockums personnel will be on station to meet the vessels on arrival, to assist with unloading and to provide maintenance support.
