A South African businessman has successfully refitted a Danish ship in Saldanha ahead of a permanent deployment to Mozambique, where it will be used for marine research. Hugh Brown, a former Johannesburg-based businessman, procured the 31m ship last year and joined the crew for a 142-day, 7000 mile journey to South Africa, where the ship has since been refurbished. Brown is co-owner and founder of the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary and has partnered with Mozambican environmental stakeholders to use the ship to conduct much-needed marine research – Mozambique’s first and only dedicated research vessel.
Brown says the vessel is now officially registered and expected to be in station in Mozambican waters in August. “There is no other ship like this around,” Brown said of the Reef Protector. “The surprises we got after stripping the hull plates and the fantastic craftsmanship used to renew her hull is a once-off,” he said.
Brown spent much of his career working in Mozambique as a project developer. He now wants to help the country protect its pristine marine environment, or what is left of it.
