Passenger Boat for UNICEF Guinea-Bissau -

UNICEF Passenger Boat – Contract Start

In June of 2020, UNICEF contracted American Procurement Services to supply a fiberglass passenger boat. The boat would be used in Guinea Bissau for vaccination distribution. The 9.8m boat allowed 30 passengers and included two (2) Yamaha 150HP engines along with a canopy. This passenger boat would be used to transport vaccination teams to the Bijagós island. These islands consist of 88 islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau spanning across 2,00 sq.km.

Project Objective

In 2019, Guinea-Bissau considered to have eradicated Polio from the population. However, nearing 2020 surrounding countries has experiences a rise in cases of Polio. Because of this increase of cases, partners including UNICEF, WHO and the Ministry of Public Works focused on a campaign to allow easier access to vaccination. This included the poliovirus vaccine, Vitamin A in addition to the Mebendazole vaccination.

Project Execution

American Procurement Services (APSCO), in partnership with their manufacturing partner, was able to work together in order to deliver the boat to Guinea-Bissau. Even though they were faced with a backorder of materials due to the pandemic, in April of 2021 the production reached completion. The boat was loaded into a 40FT container disassemble in order to keep the equipment safe from damage during transit. Finally, upon arrive the canopy was assembled onto the boat and engines attached.

With focus on the Bijagós island, the initiative dispatched vaccination teams. This allowed ease of travel between the island to provide vaccination for their population.