Fincantieri Australia has outlined its Industry Plan to develop a continuous naval shipbuilding industry to enable Australia to design and export its own ships in a speech delivered at the 15th Annual Australian Defence Magazine Congress in Canberra.
Fincantieri is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups and is now operating in Australia. The company is participating in the Federal Government’s tender for Australia’s next major naval program – the SEA 5000 Future Frigates program.
Delivering the speech, Fincantieri Australia Director Sean Costello said the shipbuilder’s bid would not just design and manufacture naval vessels, but would see a knowledge and technology transfer to Australia that would ensure Australian companies are fully capable of manufacturing all internal materials and equipment required in vessels. This will effectively give Australians the skills, tools and knowledge to create a stand-alone, sustainable industry in Australia.
“Fincantieri Australia has refined the Federal Government’s strategic objectives into three sub-programs. Firstly, a program to transfer design and engineering capabilities will allow Australian industry to design naval vessels for domestic use and export. Secondly, a program to transfer shipbuilding skills will create industry-wide shipbuilding best practice and productivity. Thirdly, a program to transfer supply chain knowledge will mean Australian companies can meet equipment needs for naval vessels right here in this country,” Mr Costello said.
“By transferring the technology and knowledge to Australian workers, management, institutions and businesses, Australia will gain the capability and independent control to design and build new naval vessels, as well as the advanced equipment and systems that go within them,” he said.
As part of the wider technology and knowledge transfer to Australian workers, Mr Costello said that should Fincantieri be successful in the SEA 5000 Future Frigate program, 150 Australians workers would join the its FREMM program in Italy this year and train with Fincantieri, before returning to Australia to lead the local project.
Mr Costello said Fincantieri has the experience and capabilities to win new export markets for Australian industry, adding that the shipbuilder currently has 97 ships on order to customers around the world. Orders have already been placed with Australian companies to manufacture equipment for export.
The shipbuilder has been preparing to deliver on its promise to start construction of the Future Frigate in Adelaide in 2020 with an Australian shipbuilding workforce and has met with over 440 companies across Australia as part of a national road show to explore opportunities for local industry to become involved in Fincantieri’s Global Supply Chain. It has signed memoranda of understanding with more than 180 companies.
Later this month, Italian engineering company Cetena, owned by Fincantieri, will host delegates from TAFE SA in Genoa, to upskill welders and electricians ahead of the Future Frigate Program.
In November, Fincantieri opened an Australian office in Adelaide, and released to South Australian shipbuilders a RFP to build three cruise ship blocks in Adelaide in 2018. It has also let a contract to Perth-based company Hoffman to supply a naval shipbuilding project being undertaken in the Middle East.
Fincantieri, which has 20 shipyards across four continents, employs 19,400 people and works with 80,0000 subcontractors, is proposing its FREMM-A design for Australia, the most capable and only proven anti-submarine warfare frigate. The company has a forward-order booked of some 25 billion euro.
