A special purpose ship which will help with the mapping of Fiji’s waters to ensure the safety of seafarers is set to be operational by the end of January next year.
Hydrographic vessel - RFNS Volasiga was officially handed over to the Fiji Navy today at the Stanley Brown Base in Walu Bay.
The ship was donated by the South Korean government and will help conduct surveys for the production of nautical sea charts.
It took 1 year 7 months to design and build the RFNS Volasiga which cost 3 million US dollars.
Fiji Navy Lieutenant Commander Timoci Natuva says in the next few weeks the ship’s crew with go through familiarisation training.
He says they will also have people to assess how the crew operate the ship.
The Captain of the RFNS Volasiga is Lieutenant Jervis Robinson who says they are privileged to be tasked with the responsibility.
RFNS Volasiga was built as part of the official development aid project titled "Reinforcing the capacity for responding to climate change in Fiji" by the Korean Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency.
It is a research vessel that is required to conduct a hydrographic survey, tides and currents observation and also survey sea routes.
