Austal expands US plant

Western Australian shipbuilder Austal plans to increase significantly the capacity of its US manufacturing plant as the company ramps up its operation to meet forecast demand from the US defence sector. Austal expects to receive an order for a second littoral combat ship (LCS) in the near future and the US Navy had already indicated it would need up to 17 combat ships in the next three years.

The expansion of Austal?s Mobile-based operation is expected to start this calendar year and the work will add a new shipbuilding bay to the company?s two-bay operation. Last month Austal paid $20.6 million to buy out its minority American partner in the US operation and staff numbers at the Alabama plant were expected to increase by about a third by the end of the next calendar year.

Despite the healthy order book, the business was still grappling with labour shortages which had made for a challenging 2005-06. Foreign workers make up about 15% of Austal?s 1,000-strong workforce in Australia and overseas workers would play an important role in the business in the foreseeable future.