Patrick Durrant | Sydney
Civmec’s announcement last week that it was to acquire the engineering division of Newcastle shipbuilder Forgacs was proof the heavy engineering and construction services provider is establishing itself as a company with clear ambitions in the defence sector. Indeed the company has made no bones about its intentions with regard to the Sea 1000 Future Submarine Program – that it be considered as a potential builder.
ADM caught up with Perth-based Civmec’s new general manager (Defence) and former Submarine Force Commander, Mike Deeks. Just 10 weeks into his new role, Deeks talks about Civmec’s capabilities as a potential submarine and ship builder.
“At one end of the spectrum we think we have a great site to be the host of the whole construction assembly process for the future submarine,” Deeks said.
Civmec’s facility is situated at Henderson in WA, directly adjacent and with unimpeded access to the Australian Marine Complex (AMC), home of the Common User Facility 100 metre x 44 metre Floating Dock.
“We’re just 10 kilometres across the Cockburn Sound from Fleet Base West and the RAN’s submarine fleet and we have access to the Indian Ocean where most of the world’s hot spots have a tendency to flare up,” Deeks said.
The debate on South Australia building the future submarine has neglected to appreciate whether the state has the capacity for such a program, according to Deeks.
“The Government has announced they will be spending $89 billion on new naval equipment in the next 20 years, including Future Frigates and Offshore Patrol Vessels,” he said. “Something’s got to move elsewhere and we believe we are well-positioned to pick up a significant portion of the work, particularly with regard to submarines.”
“The three submarine CEP contenders have all talked to us, we expect to feature in each of their submissions in some way or another.”
Of course, as Deeks readily admitted, “a lot of water has to go under the bridge before these decisions are made”. He said the two shipbuilding projects are further progressed than Sea 1000 in terms of first steel cut dates “so it will take some time to clarify what is happening with those”.
“This will then lead to more understanding of where the future submarine program will end up.”
Deeks said Civmec hasn’t discounted any possibility of a relationship, either with ASC, or with other companies here in the west or elsewhere in Australia, indeed around the world.
“The three submarine CEP contenders have all talked to us, we expect to feature in each of their submissions in some way or another,” Deeks said.
In fact the company is already proving its expertise by building a demonstration section of a submarine hull.
“It’s about two metres long, a cylindrical section with T-frames – suffice to say it’s being built to the specifications of one of the designers, and will conform to the current best practice in terms of the type of steel being used,” Deeks said.
Civmec’s heavy engineering and manufacturing skills are the other reason it should be taken seriously for a program as complex as the future submarine build, according to Deeks.
“Civmec’s capabilities in terms of steel rolling, welding – all of the things that we have been doing here in the sub-sea space, would make us fairly competitive I would think, for example when it comes to building submarine hull sections.”
Deeks said these were the obvious fabrication skills that initially attracted him to Civmec.
"Their specifications are not dissimilar to submarine hull sections."
The company is constructing four 250 tonne suction piles for Shell’s Prelude FLNG facility, soon to be deployed in the Browse Basin on WA’s Northwest Shelf. These are basically 11 metre diameter sea anchors, made to precise circularity requirements to handle the extreme pressures they will encounter at depths of up to 250 metres.
"Their specifications are not dissimilar to submarine hull sections," Deeks told ADM.
What was less obvious to Deeks initially were some of the systems the company had put in place in recent years that have set them up well for defence projects.
“They have a very smart project management system called Civtrac – manufactured components are all fitted with an RFID device, making them trackable via handheld scanners throughout the production process,” he said.
From Defence’s perspective, with a submarine build it’s critically important that important data such as the source of the steel, its quality, and the status of welds is catalogued, Deeks said. This tracking data is available in near real time and can be accessed remotely by both Civmec and a customer.
“Despite our system being developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, we can confidently say we have a good handle on the data recording aspects for all the components that would go towards building a submarine – there isn’t a lot of disparity between the Defence and offshore industry requirements,” Deeks said.
A short video outlining Civmec's defence plans can be seen here.