Cyprus plans naval base expansion at Mari to accommodate allied warships
Cyprus plans to expand the Evangelos Florakis naval base at Mari to host more than eight large allied warships and support vessels, Janes reported on Sunday.
Mari, Cyprus. Cyprus is planning to expand the Evangelos Florakis naval base to accommodate more than eight large warships and support vessels from allied navies, defence publication Janes reported on Sunday. The project remains at the design stage, with specifications and a construction timetable yet to be settled.
Design study and harbour upgrades
The defence ministry has awarded a year-long design study to a consortium of two Athens engineering firms, Triton and Marnet.
Commodore Nicolaos Luca told Janes that the aim was to provide enough berths for “allied navies”. He said use of the base would require approval from the Cypriot authorities.
The study will determine the number of berths and the size of vessels the base can accommodate. Work will focus on the harbour and maritime facilities. The base’s land area will not expand at this stage, although upgrades to ground facilities are planned.
Current naval capacity
The base can currently support only the Cypriot navy, which operates a small fleet of patrol and coastal vessels.
Its largest ship, the support vessel Alasia, displaces 900 tonnes and is 62 metres long.
Infrastructure for evacuation operations
The US-European command is funding a new heliport at Mari capable of accommodating large Chinook-type transport helicopters to airlift evacuees from conflict zones.
The Andreas Papandreou air base in Paphos will also receive new infrastructure for heavy-lift transport aircraft.
This news item was generated automatically by Cyprus Inform from publicly available materials. Report an error →