Austal

Austal is an Australian based global ship building company and defense prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defense and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, high speed passenger and vehicle ferries and specialist utility vessels including offshore windfarm and crew transfer vessels.

Austal has three major ship building facilities. Defense vessels are designed and constructed in Henderson, Western Australia and Mobile, Alabama in the United States of America and commercial vessels are constructed in Balamban, Cebu in the Philippines. Vessel support is provided through service centres located in Australia, the United States of America, Trinidad and Tobago and Oman in the Middle East. Corporate headquarters is co-located at the Australian ship building facility in Henderson, Western Australia.

Since 1988, Austal has designed and constructed over 250 vessels for navies, defense forces and commercial fleet operators around the world, including the United States Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. Major contracts currently include the Independence class littoral combat ship and Joint High Speed Vessel for the United States Navy, the Cape-class patrol boat for the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the High Speed Support Vessel for the Royal Navy of Oman.

Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)
In October 2005, Austal/General Dynamics was awarded a contract to build the first unit from its design for a Littoral Combat Ship. The keel of the future USS Independence was laid on 19 January 2006 at Austal USA's yard in Mobile, Alabama, and the naming ceremony was held on 4 October 2008. It is now operating with the fleet at its current location in Norfolk, Virginia.

The LCS 2 was the first ship built by Austal USA for the US Navy and the Navy's first Trimaran Littoral Combat Ship. It is the first naval warship constructed in Mobile, Alabama since World War II. The basis of Austal's seaframe design is the 127-metre trimaran hull Benchijigua Express.

The originally planned second Austal/GD ship (LCS-4) was cancelled on 1 November 2007. On 1 May 2009, the Navy renewed the contract with Austal/GD to build the second LCS, the USS Coronado, with delivery scheduled for May 2012.



On 29 December 2010 the U.S Navy, as per its 3 November 2010 decision to award contracts for Littoral Combat Ships to both Austal USA and Lockheed Martin, announced a new contract with Austal USA (who had separated from General Dynamics Bath Iron Works ). The contract called for one ship to be built beginning in 2010 (the USS Jackson), one to be built in 2011 (the USS Montgomery), and two per year from 2012 to 2015. The contract for the LCS 6 was for $432 million with a goal of having the average ship cost be $352 million per. Another $20 million was figured in for change orders, and a "management reserve" is included.

Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV)
In November 2008, Austal was awarded a contract to design and build the US military's next-generation high-speed catamaran, multi-use platform, the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), as part of a program potentially worth over US$1.6 billion.

As prime contractor, Austal was to design and construct the first 103-metre JHSV, with options for 9 additional vessels expected to be exercised between FY09 and FY13. Construction on the second ship started in September 2010. Austal now has contracts for three ships, long-lead material contracts for two ships and options for five further ships, for a total of ten.

The new JHSV is similar to the Austal-built WestPac Express, which the US Marines have used since 2002.

The JHSV will be able to carry 700 short tons (including M1 Abrams main battle tanks) 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 kn and be able to unload at roll-on/roll-off discharge facilities. It will be 103 meters long, 28.5 meters beam with a crew of 22 to 40.

The first four will be named USNS Spearhead, USNS Choctaw County, USNS Millinocket and USNS Fall River.

While the JHSV can carry 300 Marines and their gear for up to four days, it is not expected to be survivable against enemy attack.

Navy planners envision building up to two dozen of the JHSV ships over the next decade.

In early 2014, Austal announced it had been awarded a $124.9 million contract for two High Speed Support Vessels (HSSV) for the Royal Navy of Oman. The HSSV has a similar catamaran hull design as the JHSV. Both are to be delivered by 2016.

Armidale Class Patrol Boats
Between June 2005 and February 2008, Austal delivered fourteen 56.8-metres (186 ft) Armidale class patrol boats to the Royal Australian Navy for coastal defence. These vessels were featured on the TV series Sea Patrol.

Yemen Navy patrol boats
In 2005 Austal delivered ten high-speed patrol boats to the Yemen Navy, which are now hired out (with active duty Navy and Coast Guard crews) to protect private shippers.

P21 Class Patrol Boats
In 2009 the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta ordered four patrol boats from Austal. They were due to replace the Swift-class patrol boats P23 and P24 which had been in commission since 1971 and the Bremse-class patrol boat P32 which had been in commission since 1992. The new vessels were built to Maltese specifications and were partly financed by the EU.

The first two vessels were launched in October 2009. All four vessels were delivered to Malta in late 2009, and were officially commissioned on 18 March 2010.

The vessels are armed with machine guns and they mount a firefighting water cannon on the aft fly bridge. They are mainly used for search and rescue purposes, border patrol and to rescue illegal immigrants, similar to Grup Aresa International's rescue vessels.

Cape Class Patrol Boats
Austal was awarded the contract for the design, construction and through-life support of the Cape class patrol boats for the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service in August 2011. The eight 58-metre aluminium monohulls are due to be delivered between March 2013 and August 2015.

The support contract extends for a minimum period of eight years and encompasses a full range of intermediate and depot level maintenance activities. Further options can be exercised by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service for In-Service Support for the life of the Cape Class Patrol Boat Fleet.

Commercial and leisure vessels
Austal has designed and built a range of commercial and leisure vessels, including passenger and vehicle-passenger ferries, offshore crewboats, private and commercial liveaboard vessels and cruise vessels.

On August 20, 2014, Austal announced the sale of “Austal Hull 270”, the Company’s 102-meter trimaran stock vessel, to the U.K. Channel Islands’ ferry operator, Condor Ferries, for A$61.5 million. Additionally, modifications to the stock vessel are valued at approximately A$6 million, and is scheduled to enter service in the Spring 2015. On 28 March 2015, the ship struck the quayside while attempting to dock in Guernsey on its second day in service. Fortunately, damage was only minor and above the waterline.