Williamstown waits for second round

Two further bidding rounds could put Tenix, the Williamstown dockyard operators, back in the business of building Australia’s air warfare destroyers. Tenix confirmed that it would bid for contracts to build 70% of the modules from which the hulls of the three destroyers will be constructed.

It also confirmed that it was still interested in buying ASC, the South Australian competitor that won the race for the prized $6 billion destroyer contract. Tenix would also focus on winning other defence contracts and the destroyer work that cannot be performed in South Australia.

ASC’s communications manager, Jayne Correll, said the outsourced work would be based on a fair and equitable bidding process that would begin soon. She said ASC expected to sign the contracts next year, with construction starting in 2008 and the supply of modules continuing until 2017. But Tenix can expect to find itself in competition with the rest of the naval shipbuilding industry. Shipyards operated by ADI Limited in Sydney, the Forgac Group in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Gladstone and the West Australian group Austal will be hungry for some of this work.. And should the Federal Government put ASC up for sale in whole or in part, as expected, the same groups are likely once again to find themselves competing.