WILLEMSTAD - On Monday, September 23 naval ships Zr.Ms. Johan de Witt and Zr.Ms. Snellius will arrive in Curacao. Both ships have recently provided emergency relief operations in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian.
The ships are expected to sail into the port of Curaçao early in the morning and moor at the Brionwerf. From there various military vehicles will be unloaded and driven to the Parera naval base. They are military vehicles of the Dutch, German and French soldiers which were placed on board the Johan de Witt at the time of the emergency aid to the Bahamas.
After a short maintenance on the base, the Dutch and German vehicles are loaded on the Johan de Witt for transport back to the Netherlands. The French military vehicles will remain in Curaçao until the end of the week and will be returned by civil transport to Martinique where the 33 régiment d’infanterie de navy is stationed.
Once the loading and unloading of goods, vehicles and fuel has taken place, the ships moor at Mathey Werf and West Werf to complete the settlement process of the emergency relief operation. A large proportion of the soldiers (+/- 350 people) are expected to return to the Netherlands, Germany and Martinique by plane at the end of the week. The Johan de Witt and her own crew will start the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean next week.