– Pat Tallon , CEO
CIVMEC
We don ’ t want to be a company that talks a lot : we prefer to let the market judge us by what we are delivering
– Pat Tallon , CEO
The successes we have been talking about above might look like plenty to be getting on with , but the potential for Civmec ’ s new subsidiary Forgacs Marine and Defence are huge as the Australian Defence Department pushes forward a series of new ship acquisition and maintenance programs .
“ Our motivation for the acquisition was actually twofold ,” explains Tallon . “ The Forgacs facilities in Newcastle are quite close to Sydney , with about 24 hectares of waterfront land , and there is a lot of infrastructure type work in Sydney at the moment . We ’ re going to use these facilities to develop on the east coast and we are currently expanding them . We have already built a precast concrete workshop which allows us to do prestressed items like bridge beams so we can target major infrastructure projects in
New South Wales and Queensland .” The fabrication facility is being expanded too , new equipment is being brought in and the aim is to create a similar site to the Henderson yard . The other motivation behind the acquisition is to be able to bid for some of the upcoming work announced by the Navy in an $ 89 billion programme . Tallon continues : “ The government is committed to several defence shipbuilding programmes , one being Pacific patrol vessels , one offshore patrol vessels ( OPVs ), and they also intend to order nine new frigates and 12 submarines .”
The first package off the blocks is the OPV contract and if Tallon can ’ t secure that it will not be for want of capability or effort . Three ship design firms were shortlisted by the government to deliver 12 vessels ‘ to undertake constabulary
90 September 2017