Austal Ships Announced as Preferred Tenderer for Royal Australian Navy Patrol Boats

Austal Limited subsidiary Austal Ships, in conjunction with tender partner Defence Maritime Services, is delighted to announce the team’s selection as the preferred tenderer to construct and support the Royal Australian Navy’s new patrol boats.

Austal’s Managing Director, Mr Bob McKinnon, said the team had worked tremendously hard on the project and the tender partners were now looking forward to negotiating final contractual arrangements with the Department of Defence.

“The selection of Austal/DMS recognizes the team’s ability to provide the RAN with economical, high-performance ships and cost-effective through-life support to ensure Australia’s patrol boat capability is delivered in the best possible manner,” Mr McKinnon said.

“We congratulate those involved in the selection progress for making a decision that is clearly based on the merits of the bids.”

The Austal/DMS proposal combines the exceptional skills of two Australian companies: Austal Ships’ world-renowned vessel design and construction and DMS’ proven logistic and maintenance support, which will be provided throughout the new Armidale Class fleet’s operational life.

Once a contract is in place, Austal Ships will begin building the first of twelve 56 metre patrol boats which will be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy over a 42 month period.

“Importantly, this will provide Austal with a steady base load of work for three-and-a-half years. At the same time, our production capacity enables us to simultaneously build ferries and other vessels, and we will continue to vigorously pursue new contracts in these markets,” Mr McKinnon said.

The announcement of Austal/DMS as the preferred tenderer for the RAN project is expected to add momentum to Austal’s push into the international patrol and military vessel markets, where it has already had considerable success including securing an order in June for 10 high-speed patrol boats for the Middle East.

“Even being short-listed for the RAN project has been a boost to our credibility in the international market for defence vessels, and it certainly contributed to our ability to secure the order from the Middle East,” Mr McKinnon said.

“The selection of our 56 metre monohull as the RAN’s preferred option provides an important boost to our efforts to promote Austal’s patrol boat capabilities to the global marketplace and confirms our belief that we have developed another world-class design.”

Tendering for the RAN contract has also provided Austal with valuable insights into a number of technical and other issues that will be beneficial in developing future proposals for a wide range of vessel types and sizes.

“Our capability to pursue projects involving the preparation of large, multi-faceted tender proposals has certainly been enhanced and this will be an extremely valuable asset when pursuing future projects, particularly military vessel orders,” Mr McKinnon said.

The potential value of the RAN order is not being released at this time as the contract has not been finalised. The Austal group currently has 23 vessels worth approximately $470 million on order across its four shipyards.