I wonder if the partnership between Austal and ASC is more around building, managing and retaining their skilled workforces and capability around the various workload fluctuations. Sure there is a large pipeline of shipbuilding planned, but it will take some time to ramp things up. It could also be something of mitigation/hedging should any their prospective individual bids not get up.
Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates
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Austal were a big user of 457 Visas and laid off Australin workers in 2009 while retaining the imported work force.
In 2015 they made half their workforce redundant when the Cape Class project was winding down
300 workers lose their jobs at Austal as WA company scales back to 'normal' workforce - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The two Cape class for Navy has held them over. I suspect then need something to keep the yard afloat noting it basically only does defence work now as the commercial work has been sent offshore to the Phillipines.
The ACPB were hardly a stellar success.
Most recently they have been working on the Armidale remediation and I believe have cut steel on the new Pacific Patrol Boats. They are a bit of an all or nothing operation, running many functions on a shoe string and relying on 457 and contract labour to fill the gaps.
Pacific patrol boats are a steel hull and aluminium superstructure .... and a pretty basic build. they are going to run out of work pretty quickly on that project hence my feeling they are being offered a longer term lifeline as I am not convinced they will get the OPV (I may be wrong) and if they miss out of that then they are on the outer for most of the WA work.
Actually at the moment they are also building 'Express 4', 109m RoRo ferry.
Appears that the civilian market internationally is actually now starting to turn around since the GFC so might be more market demand to keep Austal busy there and not heavily involved in local defence work.
That being built here or in the Philippines? Last time I was there their civilian facility was shuttered and they were only using their smaller halls for the Capes.
Being built here. The halls over in Cebu are to small for the larger ships (Only 60m long). To date they have done one joint build (No sure if that was out of necesity or simply to keep the work force in Henderson busy) and now appears Henderson will do both civilian and naval work though only for the largest civilian ships or when capacity is tapped out in Cebu.
Built here but it is the first commercial hull since build number 270....... and that was a number of years ago and was finished off in the Phillipines.
Their only other vessel was a 70m DP vessel designed by a third party and delivered in 2016.
By contrast the Phillipines yards has an order book that is still growing and ships that in the past would have been in built in Australia are being built over there .........
At the moment defence armed keeping the Australian yard open and would be be providing some stimulus which would allow them to quote on this job.
Redlands18
Well-Known Member
Latest News | HmashobartassnHobart provisionally accepted by the Commonwealth from the AWD Alliance at about 1000 I/K this morning.
The HMAS Hobart association is reporting 23 Sept 2017 for Commissioning day at Garden Island. The association has received 40 invites for ex Hobart crew members to attend.
Good news for Sept
Just wondering where HMAS Hobart and the other two ships of the class will be based?
Will all three be share the same home port or will they be split between Fleet base East and West?
Regards S
All will be based at FBE. NO need to complicate sustainment issues.
And lets be honest it was the 'Destroyers' (and cruisers for that matter) ancestral home ..... so a good thing
PS and .... Aircraft carriers in the case of Sydney
I see the media is full of Australia's new $9 Billion stories, boy most journos seem to be morons. There is of course the anticipated rants in the comments about welfare scheme for SA, Daring class from the UK would have been cheaper and better, and they should used to shoot all muslims and then transport their bodies back where they came from. I am starting to wonder if there's something in the water making people dumber.
John Newman
The Bunker Group
As a Sydneysider, I'm certainly looking forward to the 'view' from The Domain in the next few years or so.
In a Christmas not to distant from now (when the fleet is at home), there will be 3 x AWD, 2 x LHD, 1 x Choules, 1 x new AOR, 3 x Anzac.
Going to make a good photo opportunity! (and hopefully one day we might see some of those 12 new subs in Sydney too, but I'll probably be pushing up the daisies by then!!)
John Newman
The Bunker Group
That would appear to depend on if the Anzac's are to be paid off a reasonable time prior to the deliver of the Future Frigates, and I don't think that will be the case.
If there was the possibility of recycling, it probably wouldn't happen for the first couple of new frigates (would appear to have to be all new equipment), but if the possibility did exist, time would be needed to remove and refurbish that equipment prior to refitting to one of the frigates under construction, but is that worth doing or not? Who knows.
The Anzacs will either be stripped and scrapped/sunk, or possibly sold onto a third party, if approval was given of course.
Anyway, don't think there is a clear answer to that question at this stage.
Redlands18
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Would love to see the Anzac go to the Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour.
John Newman
The Bunker Group
I was rather disappointed at the time when the Perth class DDG's were retired that one of them didn't end up alongside Vampire, and more recently when Sydney was retired (firstly the plan was to offer her as a dive wreck), then when that didn't happen, she was stripped and recently towed out the heads to WA for scrapping.
Would have been a good to see the three types all alongside each other, Anzac? Won't hold my breath, sadly!!
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