The Tasmanian Government has announced the first contract to provide steel components for two new Spirit of Tasmania vessels.
Finnish shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) and TT-Line Company will use Tasmanian-based contractor, Crisp Bros & Haywards, to supply content for the new Spirit of Tasmania IV and V.
Crisp Bros & Haywards will provide about 300 steel lashing points of different types to be welded to the vehicle decks of the new vessels to form part of a system that locks freight trailers down for the Bass Strait crossing.
The individual steel components are about half-a-metre by half-a-metre in size and will be fabricated from about 40 tonnes of material.
Crisp Bros & Haywards Managing Director, Steve Edmunds, said the components would be delivered to Finland in stages, the first shipment in about four to five weeks.
“We expect the project will take us a total of four months to complete,” Mr Edmunds said.
Mr Edmunds said the company, which employed 280 people across the State, was pleased to win the contract and undertake the work in Tasmania.
“We believe the TT-Line and the Tasmanian Government have done an excellent job to identify the work that may suit Tasmanian businesses and then engage with them to ensure it is commercially viable and technically possible,” Mr Edmunds said.
“We initially did not expect to win any work, particularly when you consider that the work we are doing could have been done by the shipbuilder. We hope other companies can work with the TT-Line to realise similar opportunities.”
RMC formally started construction of Spirit of Tasmania IV on 28 February 2022 when the first steel was cut at a traditional ceremony at the RMC facility in Finland.
While the new ships will be a similar design to the current Spirit of Tasmania vessels, they will feature substantially larger capacity for passengers, passenger vehicles and freight.
TT-Line Managing Director and CEO, Bernard Dwyer, said the announcement that Crisp Bros & Haywards would provide 300 steel lashing points for the new vessels was the first of many contracts that would be awarded to Tasmanian firms to provide Tasmanian content for the builds.
“We are very supportive of any Tasmanian business providing Tasmanian content for our new vessels,” Mr Dwyer said.
The contract of local content will mean the two vessels will be delivered well ahead of the 2028 replacement deadline.
