FINCANTIERI DRIVES NORTHERN TERRITORY SUPPLIER SESSION TO SUPPORT LOCAL AND GLOBAL EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES
17 January 2018, Adelaide – Fincantieri Australia will hold a supplier briefing with Northern Territory businesses in Darwin later this month to showcase the vast opportunities for local industry in Fincantieri’s Global Supply Chain.
The briefing will take place on 25 January at the Northern Australia Development House in Darwin. Interested businesses can email ceo@aidnt.com.au to register or for further information.
The briefing, run in partnership with the Northern Territory Government, Australian Industry & Defence Network Northern Territory (AIDN-NT) and the Defence Teaming Centre, offers a chance for prospective supply chain partners across the Northern Territory to obtain a deeper understanding of the opportunities and advantages of partnering with Fincantieri.
Representatives from a range of Northern Territory industries are encouraged to attend, including manufacturing, ship repair and sustainment, and engineering. Fincantieri will also demonstrate the opportunities for service providers including legal, logistics, and training within their supply chain.
Fincantieri is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups and is now operating in Australia to tender for Australia’s next major naval program – the SEA 5000 Future Frigates program.
Chairman of Fincantieri Australia, Dario Deste said that should Fincantieri be selected in the tender, there would be significant opportunities for Australian companies to not only participate in the design and build process for Future Frigates, but to become involved in other global shipbuilding projects.
“Fincantieri is one of the world’s largest shipbuilders, and we currently have forward orders booked for 25bn Euro. Our need to engage new suppliers is very strong. This briefing in Darwin allows us to meet with a range of new potential suppliers and broaden the pool of partners to support our global pipeline of shipbuilding activity.”
“We are already working with a number of Australian suppliers, with the size and strength of our operations allowing us to bring work in from our global projects to Australia. We have placed orders for manufacturing equipment for ships with Australian companies, and issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to Australian shipbuilders to build cruise blocks with Australian steel. Australian companies are already joining our global supply chain, and the opportunities are growing.”
The briefing in Darwin is part of a series of briefings and technical workshops that Fincantieri is holding around Australia. Beginning in November, the shipbuilder held two technical workshops for potential suppliers in Adelaide: a mechanical component session focused on engineering expertise, and a workshop for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC). This was followed by a briefing with potential suppliers in Brisbane in December. Further briefings and workshops across Australia are set to be announced in the coming months.
“The workshop series will discuss how we will transfer technology, skills and expertise as well as methods of operation. The workshops are designed for us to learn more about the specific expertise and skills of local SME’s in particular and for them to learn more about Fincantieri,” Mr Deste concluded.
Fincantieri has 20 shipyards across four continents, employs 19,400 people and works with 80,0000 subcontractors. In November, Fincantieri opened an Australian office in Adelaide, and released to South Australian shipbuilders a RFP to build three cruise ship blocks in Adelaide in 2018.