By
Michele Witthaus |
Hospital charity Mercy Ships announced at Cruise Shipping Miami on Tuesday 11 March that it had ordered its first newbuild ship to add to its small fleet of refurbished vessels, which serve communities in developing countries off the west coast of Africa.
The organisation has placed the order with Tianjin Xingang yard in China, with Deltamarin contracted for the design of the ship and Stena Ro-Ro overseeing the contract for the newbuild, which is set for delivery in June or July 2017. It is the first time that this type of specialist ship will be built in China. The vessel, which will be known as Atlantic Mercy, will comply with all existing regulations for the construction of passenger ships. It will be registered in Malta and classed by Lloyd’s Register.
All those who work on Mercy Ships’ hospital vessels, from crew to medical personnel, are volunteers, many of them committing up to a year of their lives to participate in the ship's missions to extremely poor countries. Common medical interventions include tumour removal, eye operations and cleft palate work.
Mercy Ships founder Don Stephens said: “The new ship will more than double the number of direct beneficiaries of our organisation. We are building capacity with new hospital operating rooms that will have facilities for visiting doctors and nurses to observe operations as part of their training.”
Regarding the reaction of the yard to the ship’s concept and mission, he said: “We were very pleased to find that the concept of corporate social responsibility was well understood in China.”
So far, 70% of the cost of the build is already committed. This includes a US$20 million gift from Bill and Sue Gross, owners of Pimco, the largest bond trader in the US.
Mercy Ships berths its vessels for ten-month periods in countries on the west coast of Africa, from Senegal to Angola, with which it establishes partnerships for medical assistance.