Austal is Named Australian Exporter of the Year

Austal Ships was judged Australia’s premier exporter, winning the National “Large Advanced Manufacturer Award” and the nation’s top exporting honour, the DHL “Australian Exporter of the Year Award” at the prestigious 2000 Australian Export Awards presentation in Sydney on December 12.

On accepting the top award from Federal Trade Minister, The Hon Mark Vaile, Austal Managing Director, Bob McKinnon said, “It is a great honour to accept these awards on behalf of everyone at Austal.”

“We find this extremely motivating and hope that this will serve to encourage other manufacturers to compete on a global basis,” said Mr McKinnon.

In the past five years, Austal Ships has exported around $1 billion dollars of its market leading vessels. The company’s 1300 strong workforce are currently working on two of the largest aluminium ferries to be built in Australia - two 101 metre vehicle-passenger catamarans. These huge vessels will have the capacity to carry around 1000 passengers and 250 cars at highway speeds.

Austal Ships competed with 66 other national finalists in a total of nine categories to win the highest award, the DHL “Australian Exporter of the Year”. The 2000 Export Awards is presented by the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).