AUSTRALIA

Base Marine lifts its game

A $3 MILLION investment in a new 400 tonne boat lifter for Exmouth is set to improve competition and make the lives of north-western Australia's marine sector a lot easier, <i>Energy News</i> has learned.

Base Marine lifts its game

"We placed the order yesterday after a pretty extensive tender process," Base Marine CEO Nick Tutty told Energy News.

"There are only a handful of places in the world that build these, so we got quotes from all over Europe and Asia and we've ended up with a UK manufacturer."

With all going well, the boat loader will be installed at Base's Exmouth supply base and be operating early in the new year.

It will mean that in order to lift heavier boats from the water, vessels will no longer be forced to travel to Darwin, Dampier or Henderson, south of Perth, but will have the option of getting work done in Exmouth.

"We've already receiving bookings," Tutty said.

It has executives a three-year contract with Shelf Subsea to lift and maintain their vessels and is in close discussions with other companies.

Over the next few months Base will undertake site and civil works to host the boat loader, involving some innovative engineering to deal with the high drop between the land and water.

Tutty said by keeping the work in Exmouth, it should lead to more work being undertaken in the town, generating more jobs in the region.

"Companies going to Henderson need to crew up and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on welding, mechanical work, hydraulics and whatever they need doing, and that is jobs and money we are hoping to retain that in Exmouth, and to attract boats that have never used the supply base before," he said.

"I honestly believe this something industry has not had until now. We will be able to lift the biggest boats using Exmouth, and given we can only lift 25t at the moment, this increase in tonnage is a pretty big deal."

Base is already loading vessels up to 400t daily, so the boats are already visiting the port regularly, and the ability to save a 1200-1400km journey could offer considerable savings, Tutty said.

Marine vessels winning work on Barrow Island, even short term contracts, regularly need to be lifted out of the water so they can be assessed to meet quarantine regulations, and currently that work is essentially restricted to Dampier.

Tutty said the market for the boat lifter had been identified early, but the focus for Base has been the development of the supply base and its core areas, and expanding into labour hire, boat charters and offshore marine logistics.

"It was a natural transition into lifting small boats, but we have been daily turning boats away that are too big for us to lift, and we always knew this market was there, and we think we have the perfect location, it's just taken a few years to get to the final investment decision, analysing the market and working with the northwest boat operators, before we could go to tender," he said.

TOPICS:

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the energy sector, brought to you by the Energy News Bulletin Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the energy sector, brought to you by the Energy News Bulletin Intelligence team.

editions

ENB Cost Report 2023

ENB’s latest Cost Report findings provide optimism as investments in oil and gas, as well as new energy rise.

editions

ENB Future of Energy Report 2023

ENB’s inaugural Future of Energy Report details the industry outlook on the medium-to-long-term future for the sector in the Asia Pacific region.

editions

ENB Cost Report 2021

This industry-wide report aims to understand current cost levels across the energy industry

editions

ENB Social Licence Report 2021

In its second year, this research now includes trends and new findings surrounding impacts and responses as the energy industry seeks to secure and maintain a social licence to operate.