Hoist a lift to shipyard

Entsch welcomes purchase of mega-crane

MP Warren Entsch says the world’s largest ship hoist will be a welcome addition to Cairns’ maritime sector – as long as it doesn’t take business away from other shipyards.

BSE Maritime Solutions has bought a $6 million sevenstorey mobile boat lift for its Portsmith shipyard.

The company says the Italian-made machine, which is capable of hoisting 1120 tonnes, will be used to repair su- peryachts, Border Force, Defence and commercial vessels.

It is expected to be ready for use at the Portsmith shipyard by mid-2019.

Mr Entsch said the hoist was a great investment in building capacity for lifting certain categories of vessels, including super yachts.

He hoped the new hoist would generate additional business for all of Cairns’ shipyards, rather than taking business away from them.

The Coalition MP also said the private hoist would not address the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) issue, as it was not a common-user facility.

The Federal Government’s dry-docking tender for the Australian Navy’s OPVs dictates that all work is carried out in Henderson in WA, which already has a commonuser facility.

Mr Entsch has been campaigning for Cairns to have its own $100 million-plus common-user facility, including a 3000-tonne syncrolift able to lift multiple vessels in tandem.

“I’m sure (BSE) are not going to share their lift with other repair businesses there,” he said.

“This is where you run into trouble because the Defence Force will only look at competitive tenders.

“So, with a common-user facility, every single contractor has got access to that, which means you don’t even have to have a slipway to be able to tender for work.

“You can tender on the basis that a common-user facility is available to you and the vessel will be put off to one side to allow you to work on it.”

The mobile boat hoist has been welcomed by Australia’s super yacht sector.

Australian International Marine Export Group (AIMEX) Superyacht Australia chief executive MaryAnne Edwards said it would change the capability of the sector’s landscape.

“AIMEX has been working with state and federal governments to make Australia more attractive to the lucrative superyacht industry and we have identified that infrastructure of this nature is critical to that success,” she said.

“Further investment will be needed in the industry but the very real, very practical investment that BSE have announced will go a long way towards establishing our international credibility.”