Austal Delivers Eighth Cape Class Patrol Boat

Austal Limited (Austal) (ASX:ASB) is pleased to announce it has delivered Cape York the final of eight Cape Class Patrol Boats supplied to Australian Border Force (formerly Australian Customs and Border Protection) under a $330 million design, build and in-service support contract.

Cape Class Patrol Boat

Austal Chief Executive Officer Andrew Bellamy said that with eight boats successfully delivered within the original timeframe, Austal has demonstrated its credentials as a partner of choice for government defence vessel programs and a world leader in patrol boat design, build and sustainment.

“The on-time and on-budget delivery of all eight Cape Class Patrol Boats is a credit to our highly skilled team at the Henderson shipyard, which has achieved valuable production efficiencies as the program progressed; clearly demonstrating the benefits of continuous shipbuilding and reinforcing Austal’s capability to successfully design, build and sustain multiple naval and border protection vessel programs.”

“Austal has delivered one Cape Class Patrol vessel approximately every 10 weeks over 2014-2015; which has significantly increased Australian Border Force’s capability to reliably deliver on the Border Protection obligations it undertakes for the Commonwealth of Australia, ” Mr Bellamy said.

“Our national sustainment team, services and facilities continues to grow in line with the Cape Class Patrol Boats coming into service; ensuring the operational availability of the Australian Border Force fleet around the country.”

As the sole provider of the Commonwealth’s border patrol capability for the past 17 years and as a successful exporter, Austal has now delivered a total of 72 patrol boats. The company has recently submitted a tender for the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Program, comprising 21 vessels for delivery to Pacific Island nations from 2017.

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About Austal

Austal is a global defence prime contractor and a designer and manufacturer of defence and commercial ships. For more than 25 years Austal has been a leader in the design, construction and maintenance of revolutionary ships for Governments, Navies and Ferry operators around the world. More than 250 vessels have been delivered in that time.

Ships

Defence vessels designed and built by Austal include multi-mission combatants, such as the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) for the United States Navy and military high speed vessels for transport and humanitarian relief, such as the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) for the United States Navy and High Speed Support Vessel (HSSV) for the Royal Navy of Oman. Austal also designs, constructs, integrates and maintains an extensive range of patrol and auxiliary vessels for government agencies globally, including the Cape Class Patrol Boat Program for Australian Border Force (formerly Australian Customs and Border Protection). Defence vessels are designed and constructed in Mobile, Alabama and in Henderson, Western Australia.

Austal has been at the forefront of the high speed ferry market since the early days of the industry. Our market leading designs of high performance aluminium vessels have long been at the heart of Austal’s research and development. Today, commercial ship construction is centred on our shipyard in Balamban, Philippines.

Systems

Austal has expertise in integrating complex systems into its ships, including ride control, ship management, and communication, sensors and weapon systems.

Support

Austal provides a wide range of support services, including through life support, integrated logistics support, vessel sustainment and systems support. These services are delivered through our global support network in the USA, Australia, Asia and the Middle East together with partner shipyards worldwide.