Navy patrol boat repairs blow out by $45m
Posted: 06 Jan 2016 08:08
Navy patrol boat repairs blow out by $45m
THE AUSTRALIAN JANUARY 6, 2016 12:00AM
Cameron Stewart
Associate Editor
Melbourne
Armidale-class patrol boat HMAS Larrakia.
The repair bill for the navy’s troubled patrol boats could blow out by up to $45 million as the damage to the overworked fleet becomes apparent from the asylum-seeker crisis of the Rudd-Gillard era.
The Australian understands that the start of a major refit for the 13 Armidale-class patrol boats has uncovered more damage than was expected, doubling the cost of repairing the first two boats and raising doubts over their durability.
The navy’s patrol boat fleet has suffered from a perfect storm of design faults, poor maintenance and the mission to intercept more than 50,000 asylum-seekers between 2008 and 2013, often in rough seas for which the boats were not designed. This has left the fleet in poor condition, with the government this year fast-tracking a replacement fleet of offshore patrol vessels, to be known as Corvettes, with construction to begin in 2018.
To keep the Armidale fleet afloat until the OPVs are ready in the early 2020s, the patrol boats are undergoing a progressive mid-life refit in Singapore rather than in Cairns or Darwin, where the navy has been disappointed in the quality and speed of repairs.
It is understood that the costs of refitting the first two patrol boats, HMAS Larrakia and HMAS Albany, has been more than $7m a boat, double the expected cost of $3.5m a boat. If that cost blowout is repeated across the 13-boat fleet, the refit budget will blow out by more than $45m. The navy lost one of its patrol boats, HMAS Bundaberg, to fire as it was undergoing a refit in Darwin last year.
To supplement the remaining Armidales while two boats are progressively in refit, the Australian Border Force has temporarily transferred two Cape-class offshore patrol vessels to the navy to enable it to meet its border security obligations.
The Cape Byron was handed to the navy on July 24 and the Cape Nelson on October 1. Shipbuilder Austal has won a $63m contract to build two Cape-class patrol boats for Defence to be delivered mid-next year and chartered to Defence for at least three years.
Defence has been unhappy with the quality of the maintenance program given to the Armidale fleet in the past and has agreed with in-service support contractor Serco to end the contract earlier than planned, next year.
“Over a number of years, the sustainment of Armidale-class patrol boats has not allowed the fleet to meet the required levels of availability for this important capability,” a Defence spokesman said. “Therefore it has been mutually agreed that the contract will end in 2017.”
Defence will tender for a new in-service support contractor next year.
The Armidale-class fleet was built in Western Australia between 2004 and 2007 under order to civilian rather than military specifications, meaning they were ill-suited to operate regularly in high seas. This meant the aluminium alloy-hulled vessels were poorly equipped for the mission of intercepting and sometimes rescuing hundreds of asylum-seeker boats in rough weather as they made passage from Indonesia or Sri Lanka to Christmas Island between 2008 and 2013.
In March last year, a re-emergence of structural cracks in the boats caused almost half the fleet to be confined to port. This caused the navy to lose patience with the fleet and it asked the government to fast-track the construction of steel-hulled, rather than aluminium alloy-hulled boats, to make them more resistant to rough seas and poor weather. Although there have been turn-backs of asylum-seeker boats since 2013, the lull in boats seeking to make the crossing has allowed the navy to develop deep maintenance and refit programs to keep the Armidale-class fleet afloat.
The mid-life refit program began in October and has uncovered the extent of corrosion and cracks caused by the wear during the years when the boats were at sea for long periods.
“The Armidale-class patrol boat fleet has commenced a mid-life refit which will include a hull-strengthening program along with a range of engineering changes designed to refresh some key ships’ systems and improve overall platform reliability,” a Defence spokesman said. “The program will also include a range of lower level engineering changes designed to improve overall long-term reliability of the platforms.”
THE AUSTRALIAN JANUARY 6, 2016 12:00AM
Cameron Stewart
Associate Editor
Melbourne
Armidale-class patrol boat HMAS Larrakia.
The repair bill for the navy’s troubled patrol boats could blow out by up to $45 million as the damage to the overworked fleet becomes apparent from the asylum-seeker crisis of the Rudd-Gillard era.
The Australian understands that the start of a major refit for the 13 Armidale-class patrol boats has uncovered more damage than was expected, doubling the cost of repairing the first two boats and raising doubts over their durability.
The navy’s patrol boat fleet has suffered from a perfect storm of design faults, poor maintenance and the mission to intercept more than 50,000 asylum-seekers between 2008 and 2013, often in rough seas for which the boats were not designed. This has left the fleet in poor condition, with the government this year fast-tracking a replacement fleet of offshore patrol vessels, to be known as Corvettes, with construction to begin in 2018.
To keep the Armidale fleet afloat until the OPVs are ready in the early 2020s, the patrol boats are undergoing a progressive mid-life refit in Singapore rather than in Cairns or Darwin, where the navy has been disappointed in the quality and speed of repairs.
It is understood that the costs of refitting the first two patrol boats, HMAS Larrakia and HMAS Albany, has been more than $7m a boat, double the expected cost of $3.5m a boat. If that cost blowout is repeated across the 13-boat fleet, the refit budget will blow out by more than $45m. The navy lost one of its patrol boats, HMAS Bundaberg, to fire as it was undergoing a refit in Darwin last year.
To supplement the remaining Armidales while two boats are progressively in refit, the Australian Border Force has temporarily transferred two Cape-class offshore patrol vessels to the navy to enable it to meet its border security obligations.
The Cape Byron was handed to the navy on July 24 and the Cape Nelson on October 1. Shipbuilder Austal has won a $63m contract to build two Cape-class patrol boats for Defence to be delivered mid-next year and chartered to Defence for at least three years.
Defence has been unhappy with the quality of the maintenance program given to the Armidale fleet in the past and has agreed with in-service support contractor Serco to end the contract earlier than planned, next year.
“Over a number of years, the sustainment of Armidale-class patrol boats has not allowed the fleet to meet the required levels of availability for this important capability,” a Defence spokesman said. “Therefore it has been mutually agreed that the contract will end in 2017.”
Defence will tender for a new in-service support contractor next year.
The Armidale-class fleet was built in Western Australia between 2004 and 2007 under order to civilian rather than military specifications, meaning they were ill-suited to operate regularly in high seas. This meant the aluminium alloy-hulled vessels were poorly equipped for the mission of intercepting and sometimes rescuing hundreds of asylum-seeker boats in rough weather as they made passage from Indonesia or Sri Lanka to Christmas Island between 2008 and 2013.
In March last year, a re-emergence of structural cracks in the boats caused almost half the fleet to be confined to port. This caused the navy to lose patience with the fleet and it asked the government to fast-track the construction of steel-hulled, rather than aluminium alloy-hulled boats, to make them more resistant to rough seas and poor weather. Although there have been turn-backs of asylum-seeker boats since 2013, the lull in boats seeking to make the crossing has allowed the navy to develop deep maintenance and refit programs to keep the Armidale-class fleet afloat.
The mid-life refit program began in October and has uncovered the extent of corrosion and cracks caused by the wear during the years when the boats were at sea for long periods.
“The Armidale-class patrol boat fleet has commenced a mid-life refit which will include a hull-strengthening program along with a range of engineering changes designed to refresh some key ships’ systems and improve overall platform reliability,” a Defence spokesman said. “The program will also include a range of lower level engineering changes designed to improve overall long-term reliability of the platforms.”