Luerssen Australia announced it has appointed Tammar Contractors, a majority Indigenous-owned company, to provide yard services for the Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Program, based in Henderson, Western Australia.
Tammar Contractors is headed up by Larry Kickett, a former WA Footballer, and Simon Brennan, Managing Director of BRE Engineering, whose company is also a local supplier on the OPV Program.
The contract will see Tammar Contractors supply a team of riggers and support staff to work on the OPV Program.
Luerssen Australia Chief Executive Officer, Jens Nielsen, said it’s another win for local businesses wanting to get involved in the defence industry. “We are extremely proud to be engaging more and more local suppliers on the OPV Program, and we are happy to be working with Tammar Contractors, a registered First Nations supplier. Luerssen Australia is an Australian company, employing Australian workers, in Australian shipyards, using Australian steel to build Royal Australian Navy vessels.”
Tammar Contractors Director, Larry Kickett, said he was thrilled to be joining forces with Luerssen Australia. “We are very happy to be teaming up with Luerssen Australia on the OPV Program and we look forward to working collaboratively to grow our capabilities and contribute to the shipbuilding sector in WA.”
Currently the OPV Program is achieving an impressive Australian Industry Content (AIC) percentage of 63%, with the aim of increasing this further.
Luerssen Australia’s focus on growing the local supply chain is providing opportunities to WA owned small and medium-sized enterprises to grow and improve their capabilities.
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Any chance Luerssen Australia could actually get a seaworthy boat into the water?
Luerssen have been very successfully building ships for more than a century. I can assure you the problem is not with them, it’s CASG/RAN. Having contracted for an OPV – itself a down-designed version of the parent ship for Brunei – they have now decided that they don’t want an OPV. So what does CASG do in this position? Place every possible administrative and procedural hurdle in the way of Luerssen to slow the project down to a standstill.
Wasn’t it Luerssen who chose to ally with Civmec?
Unless they were directed to form a partnership with them then certainly some of the issues, at least with the WA builds, are due to their poor choice of a Partner.
The structural issues being reported in regards the ships being constructed on the strip aren’t due to CASG/RAN interference.
Luerssen appears to be trying to play catchup now with a quite large recruitment programme underway and appointing new contractors but one wonders why if the programme has been stalled
I understand that there have been some issues with Civmec – but let’s remember, the first two Arafuras have been built at Osborn by BAE Systems.
Neither of which are anywhere near being accepted as far as I am aware
CASG. Them again. They seem to be often near a problem. Arafura’s are an unusual, almost ungainly looking thing