AMSG HOPS ABOARD BID FOR NAVAL PATROL BOATS
BRISBANE’S Australian Maritime Systems Group will join a $3 billion bid to build Australia’s next-generation naval patrol vessels.
AMSG is partnering with Dutch shipbuilders Alewijnse Marine and Damen Group in the tender to build 12 offshore patrol vessels for the Royal Australian Navy. If the consortium wins, AMSG will recruit around 100 workers to design and install electrical systems for the vessels, which will be built and fitted out in Adelaide and Perth.
Pinkenba-based AMSG supplies and maintains navigation aids, including lighthouses, beacons and electronic traffic systems, around the world.
Damen is up against two rival German-led bids, with the Federal Government due to announce the winning tender before Christmas.
So far Queensland firms have largely been shut out of the Federal Government’s massive $90 billion naval shipbuilding program, which includes the construction of submarines and frigates.
AMSG managing director John Sugarman said winning the contract would effectively double the size of the company’s national workforce.
“It is quite a huge undertaking, involving construction of 12 vessels over a 10year period,” Mr Sugarman said. “Queensland firms do not seem to be getting a lot of defence work, but that is not stopping local companies from getting involved. We have the knowledge and expertise.”
The Dutch companies have pledged to maximise the transfer of technology and other intellectual property if they win the contract.
Damen Asia Pacific director Roland Briene said he had spoken to more than 800 businesses at industry briefings in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide this year.
“The joint venture between AMSG and Alewijnse is a prime example of the relationship we want to grow in Australia,” Mr Briene said. “We are committed to creating a long-term naval and commercial shipbuilding capacity here.”
Mr Sugarman said the contract would be a new line of work for the company, which was founded 17 years ago when the Federal Government outsourced coastal navigation.