Global medical charity Mercy Ships plans to expand its fleet with a new purpose-built hospital vessel to treat thousands more people in Africa.
The charity has two ships in operation and the philanthropic arm of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has made an initial donation towards a third. The amount was not disclosed.
Fundraising and planning remain at an early stage, but the ship is expected to have enough space for six operating rooms, training areas and a fully equipped laboratory.
The ship’s design will be similar to the 37,000-gt Global Mercy (built 2021), which is stationed off Freetown, Sierra Leone, where volunteer doctors carry out operations and train local medics. The charity says the Global Mercy is the largest civilian hospital ship in the world.
“Mercy Ships is excited about expanding our fleet,” said Bryce Wagner, the executive director of global corporate partnerships for the charity.
“Now we have been blessed with an incredibly generous anchor gift to launch this project. With one person dying globally every two seconds because of a surgically treatable disease, there’s no time to wait.
“The need for safe surgery isn’t slowing down, so neither are we.”
Shipyard slots have not been booked for the planned newbuilding and it is not expected to go into operation for a decade or more.
Wagner said the focus this year is to continue paying costs for the two ships already in place for surgical and outreach work in Madagascar and Sierra Leone.
During typical 10-month tours of duty, the charity’s ships call at the ports of African nations to carry out vital surgery for some of the world’s poorest people who often travel days for treatment. Its volunteers have carried out more than 117,000 operations since the charity was founded in 1978.
MSC has worked with Mercy Ships since 2011. MSC group president Diego Aponte said: “Mercy Ships brings tangible and concrete support to thousands of families across the region.”
The shipping industry has helped raise millions of dollars for the charity with an annual Cargo Day event and gala that have brought in more than $9m from donations from fixture commissions and auctions.
The idea for Cargo Day came from Tim Webb, the head of tankers for shipbroker BRS, who organised the inaugural event in 2016.
He died this year after handing over control at a gala event in Geneva after seven successful years running the cargo day organising committee in the city.
Mercy Ships chief executive Gert van de Weerdhof said: “This new hospital ship will bring state-of-the-art equipment and facilities to support the nations we serve.”
