Cairns in patrol boat race

CAIRNS’ maritime sector could be a big winner from a major international shipbuilder’s bid for a $3 billion Australian Defence Force contract.

Luerssen is one of three short-listed tenderers for the Royal Australian Navy’s SEA1180 Phase 1 Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) project.

The German shipbuilding giant says, if selected for the lucrative contract, it will subcontract the construction work of the vessels to its Australian partners ASC and Forgacs.

The two naval contractors, who are headquartered in South Australia and Western Australia, say they will then subcontract a large proportion of supplies and works to local industries – possibly including Cairns.

At an industry briefing in Cairns yesterday Luerssen De- fence sales director Detlef Schlichting said he was impressed by the level of interest from the city’s maritime sector in forming partnerships with the company.

“Defence ships are very complex things where you need a lot of hands in it and we all work as a team,” he said.

“If you have a good supplier, who is not working in a team, he’s not a good supplier. “We need team players.” He said Luerssen was also keen to explore other maritime capabilities available in the Far North, beyond just servicing and supplying the naval sector.

“We are working on setting up a hub here in Australia for Luerssen for other defence programs and also for yacht construction,” he said.

“In Europe, we are already making use of Australian suppliers, and we are always keen to widen our supply chain.

“It’s not a limited market anymore.”