Austal, Civmec sign MOU for landing craft

Austal and Civmec announced the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture (JV) to support the LAND8710 Phase 2 Landing Craft Heavy (LC-H) project. LAND8710 Phase 2 (LC-H) will deliver enhanced transport and littoral manoeuvre capability to the Australian Army to enable greater capacity and reach over the Indo-pacific region. Under the MOU, Austal and Civmec will develop the structure, delivery process and detailed scope of the JV in preparation to submit tenders to the Commonwealth for LAND8710 Phase 2 (LC-H). It is intended for the JV to contract directly to the Commonwealth to undertake shipbuilding tasks for the LC-H project within the assembly hall at Civmec’s Henderson facility. Civmec Executive Chairman Jim Fitzgerald, said “The proposed joint venture between Austal and Civmec will be an important step to ensure the continuation of naval shipbuilding at Henderson, with tenders, detailed scopes and commercial arrangement now able to be finalised at pace. By combining Civmec’s Henderson shipbuilding facilities, which include the largest heavy engineering facility of its kind in Australia, our systems, steel manufacturing expertise and 4,000 strong labour force, together with Austal’s naval shipbuilding experience and long track record of delivery, the JV would be very well placed to deliver efficient Continuous Naval Shipbuilding in Western Australia to Defence. There are many details to work through, including expansion of Civmec’s footprint in Henderson to ensure there is no impact to Civmec’s ongoing work for the resources, energy and infrastructure sectors.” Austal Chief Executive Officer Paddy Gregg, said “We are excited by what a partnership could mean for continuous sovereign shipbuilding, particularly in Western Australia. A partnership and commercial arrangement with Civmec should complement our Strategic Shipbuilding Agreement with the Commonwealth. It would provide the Commonwealth with immediate access to a larger pool of skilled shipbuilding workers that can transition across multiple projects via a ‘consolidated Henderson’ model. It will allow the Commonwealth to continue to leverage Austal’s naval shipbuilding experience and track record of delivery for the Commonwealth, including the upcoming Landing Craft-Heavy program.” For Editorial Inquiries Contact : Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Group Sales Director Simon Hadfield at [email protected]