North Queensland businesses Tropical Reef Shipyards and BME NQ will manufacture seven new watercraft for the Australian Army.
Tropical Reef Shipyards and BME NQ will manufacture the 7.5 metre vessels in Cairns, and will also provide spares and trailers, as well as operator and maintainer training.
The watercraft will be based on a Chris Tucker Marine Design product, an Australian Naval Architect firm, at a cost of $4.05 million.
Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price said the announcement was another positive step towards building on Cairns manufacturing, defence and marine maintenance capabilities.
“Tropical Reef Shipyard is a key defence industry partner and is used extensively by the Royal Australian Navy for maintenance and modification services on our Leeuwin Class Hydrographic ships and Paluma Class Survey Motor boats,” Minister Price said.
“Australian businesses will grow our marine manufacturing and maintenance capacity, showing once again that we are backing local businesses and supporting local jobs.”
