BAE Systems proved it had the resources to respond quickly to undertake a double docking recently when the hulls of two ANZAC class frigates required cleaning.
Director of BAE Systems Maritime Division, Harry Bradford, said the Henderson facility was the only shipyard in the region capable of such a major undertaking and was able to respond to the RAN’s requirements in a matter of days.
“The facilities and capabilities we have at Henderson mean that we can double dock ships the size of the Anzac Frigates as well as other commercial vessels,” he said.
“At one stage during this exercise we had up to six vessels including the frigates dry docked at Henderson.”
Facilities at the Henderson shipyard include a shiplift capable of lifting vessels up to 125 meters long and 7900 tonnes.
The shiplift consists of a rail system where vessels are docked onto bogies and transferred into various berths along the rail system.
There are three dry berths in the yard, each of which is capable of hosting multiple vessels, and each is connected by an 86 meter long turntable.
Mr Bradford said the ships were docked a week apart.
He said that docking cradles needed to be constructed for each frigate and which normally took 10 to 14 days for each cradle.
“BAE Systems was able to respond quickly to the Navy’s request by building the first cradle in five days and the second in four days,” he said.
HMAS Anzac has been undocked with HMAS Arunta scheduled for undocking in the coming weeks.
BAE Systems Henderson Shipyard is located within the Australian Marine Complex,
13 Kilometres South of Fremantle.
The facility provides repair, conversion, maintenance, construction and refit services to naval and commercial vessels along with its latest venture into offshore oil and gas arena.