Length 14 m | Launched June 2006 | |
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Operator Department of Environmental Affairs Status in active service, as of 2012 Type Environmental protection vessel Builders Eraco Boat Builders, Parow, Cape Town | ||
The Florence Mkhize is an environmental protection vessel operated by the South African Ministry of the Environment. She was launched in June 2006. At 14 metres (46 ft), and capable of 65 knots, she is smaller and faster than four earlier environmental protection vessels. The three vessels in the Lillian Ngoyi class are 47 metres (154 ft) long and capable of 25 knots.
At her launch Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South African Ministry of the Environment, asserted the vessel's design was unique.
The hull is constructed of aluminium and she was designed & tested by Cape Advanced Engineering, a South African company based in Atlantis, Western Cape. She spent her first four months in commission countering perlemoen poaching in Algoa Bay near Port Elizabeth.
All of the South African environmental patrol vessels are named after anti-apartheid heroines, like Florence Mkhize.