Builder needs more hands on deck
PUSH FOR MORE WOMEN
A HOBART boatbuilder hopes to attract a more diverse workforce as it continues to secure new contracts.
PFG Group, which builds specialty boats in Goodwood, has shifted from aquaculture vessels to defence boats and has several contracts on the books, including flood boats for the WA government, oil recovery barges for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and International Defence Boats.
But as the growth continues there are concerns more hands might be needed on deck.
“It has been a bit hard attracting
people lately,” PFG general manager Stephen McCullum said.
“It does seem to be, as in most industries at the moment, there is a skills shortage.”
Mr McCullum said there were many trades which would have transferable skills which would be valuable in boat building.
“We do accept trades that are very similar, the welding and fabrication industries, they do understand how to read the plans and what construction is required,” he said.
“There’s also a component where we need the shipwrights, the more technical sides of finishing boats, that’s
a side that there is a very big skills shortage.”
Mr McCullum said the company would like more women to consider boat building after recruiting their first female trainee.
Fabrication apprentice Alice Clarke said she was inspired to take up the trade because her stepdad was a boat builder at Incat for 15 years.
“This option came up and I just landed it,” Ms Clarke said
“It’s nice not having to sit at a desk and you’re always building something. “They’re really cool boats.” Before she was hired at PFG, she had completed two years of a four-year apprenticeship.
“I basically walked in with my previous knowledge,” she said.
“Before that it helped having a cert two of engineering under my belt through TasTAFE.
“That helped a lot with my confidence because I started that cert two with no knowledge at all.”
Ms Clarke said it was daunting to start working in a male-dominated industry.
“I wasn’t really sure how they would accept me, I had problems in the past at my last workplace where I wasn’t accepted at all,” she said.
She said more women should consider boat building.
“If you’re game enough to get a little dirty, I think more women should get into this,” she said.
“And there’s no physical lifting.
“There’s lots of knowledge in it once you get a trade and your qualifications, you can take it anywhere, you can’t not get hired.
“They’d have to be silly not to hire you with that piece of paper.”
Mr McCullum said he hoped more women took up the trade.
“It would be fantastic,” he said.
“Alice is a bit of a trail blazer, she comes along with a great attitude, she performs as well as anyone else.”