The ramping up of shipbuilding programs in Adelaide this year is providing an employment lifeline for South Australia as the state’s looks for ways to tackle boost jobs growth post coronavirus.
There are already almost 700 people working on the Hunter Class Frigate Program. Those numbers are expected to reach 1000 by the end of the year and 1500 by mid-2025 before reaching a peak of 2400 in 2028.
Nine anti-submarine warfare frigates will be built by ASC Shipbuilding at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide in what is being described as the largest surface ship project in Australia’s defence history.
The $35 billion project is expected to generate thousands of additional jobs in South Australia and interstate at defence primes and smaller component manufacturers, which are being contracted to supply parts and expertise.
It comes at an opportune time as Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force figures for March, released last week, show South Australia’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate climbed to 6.2 per cent, up from its already nation-topping February rate of 5.8 per cent.
The full impact of coronavirus job cuts are not likely to show up until April’s figures are released next month.
South Australia is pivotal in Australia’s $90 billion National Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise. The last of three Air Warfare Destroyers were handed over to the Commonwealth in a ceremony at Osborne last month where construction of Offshore Patrol Vessels is well underway.
Osborne has been the home of the Air Warfare Destroyer project for more than a decade and was also where six Collins Class submarines were built for the Royal Australian Navy and have undergone ongoing sustainment.
It is also expected to be the construction site for 12 Attack Class Submarines from 2024, creating thousands more jobs.
ASC Shipbuilding has become a subsidiary of BAE Systems throughout the Hunter Frigate build process before ownership is returned to the Commonwealth at the completion of the project.
ASC Shipbuilding Managing Director Craig Lockhart said while 70 per cent of Osborne’s staff were working from home and social distancing measures were in place, shipbuilding had been able to continue in Adelaide throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re still presenting all the design-based engineering outputs that we need to deliver against the schedule so I think the positive is that defence has kept going when lots of other industries have unfortunately had to stop,” he said.
“We’ll be better placed than most sectors to come out of this because it’s largely been progress as normal, we haven’t been that affected by what has been going on.
“The Hunter program is well placed to be front and centre in South Australia and lots of the other states when we come out of this stage we’re in at the moment and we start to think about how we generate wealth and jobs.
A $535 million upgrade to the Osborne shipyard is almost complete, creating a world-class digital shipyard, which will be key to delivering the frigate program.
Australian Naval Infrastructure began the Osborne South Shipyard project in 2018 and has employed more than 550 people on-site and a further 150 off-site in a range of trades and professions including metal fabrication, design consultants and project managers.
ASC Shipbuilding this month partnered with BAE Systems and Flinders University to launch Australia’s first digital shipbuilding course, aimed at upskilling the remaining AWD workforce with the latest industry 4.0 technologies and techniques that will benefit the Hunter program and future shipbuilding projects in the state.
The Hunter Class Frigates are based on the Type 26 Global Ship, which BAE Systems is building for the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy in Scotland.
The first of more than 40 ASC shipbuilding staff seconded to BAE’s Scotland shipyards as part of a knowledge transfer are beginning to return to South Australia after up to 18 months in the UK learning how to build the ships.
Nine Hunter Class Frigates will be built in Adelaide by a workforce of more than 2400. Image: BAE Systems.
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