07 Oktober 2011

K122 ship at launch ceremony - (photo: Nguyen Van Xuan)

Morning 5 /10, General Factory Z189 defense industry has celebrated and successful launch K122 passenger ship.

Passenger ship K122 is the biggest and most modern Vietnam Navy today by design and construction.

Vessels 71 meters in length, width 13.2 m, range 2,500 nautical miles, carrying the 180 guests (sleeping).

On the construction process, the factory has applied several technical solutions with quality standards and modern technologies of the European partners.

The building and launching successful passenger ship K122 ensure the technical features, good quality will contribute to building the Vietnam People's Navy increasingly formal, well-trained and modern.

(BaoDatViet)

14 Juli 2011

JHSV for USNavy ships (photo : Austal)

Aussie Firm to Create 2,000 Balamban Jobs

An Australian shipbuilding company, Austal, will soon build US Navy ships in Balamban town, west Cebu.

The operation will generate at least 2,000 jobs in the town, said Cebu Provincial Board Member Alex Binghay, who is Balamban’s former mayor.

Austal, which manufactures aluminum-hulled vessels, has started developing a part of the site of FBMA Marine Inc, an Aboitiz-owned shipbuilding plant inside the West Cebu Industrial Park in Balamban.

Binghay said Austal signed a $10-billion contract with the United States Navy to build military support ships and would sign an agreement with the municipality of Balamban within two months for the formal operation of the firm in Cebu.

He said this would be a “big investment” for the town.

Officials of Austal visited Balamban town last Saturday to discuss site developments.

Austal also reached an agreement with FBMA on the use of part of its facility.

Since the site is in an export processing zone, two percent of the gross income of Austal will go the municipality, said Binghay.

Binghay said one ship manufactured by Austal would cost at least $100 million while three percent of the gross income would also go to the national government.

Austal is a member of the Australian Association of Shipbuilders.

Other products of Austal include high-speed passenger and vehicle-passenger ferries, cruise vessels and a range of patrol, fast freight and offshore support vessels.

Balamban is also home to Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Inc., another ship building firm which employs 14,000 highly skilled workers.

(Inquirer)

17 Februari 2011



In the period of 1997-2001, RAN leased high speed ferry catamaran as HMAS Jervis Bay AKR-45 (photo : Idris Welch)



THE federal government should move quickly to plug a hole in the navy's amphibious ship-lift capability by leasing or buying a locally-built high-speed catamaran, a respected defence think tank says.



The acquisition of a catamaran like the Tasmanian-built Jervis Bay, leased during the 1999 East Timor crisis, would be a useful addition to the Royal Australian Navy fleet, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Andrew Davies said.



Yesterday, Defence Minister Stephen Smith lashed his own department over its failure to keep its ships seaworthy and maintain a deployable heavy-lift amphibious capability.



Dr Davies, director of ASPI's operations and capability program, said experience gained during the five-year lease of the Jervis Bay was proof of the military viability of commercial high-speed catamarans.



“This seems to be a situation where considerable national capability can be acquired for a relatively small outlay,” he said.



It would take more than 12 months for the lease or purchase of a surplus Royal Navy bay class amphibious support vessel from Britain, Dr Davies warned.

He said the Jervis Bay example showed the capability could be achieved more easily through the lease of a high-speed commercial vessel.



“The RAN could acquire a capability that is not just useful for the smaller jobs that do not require the capabilities of a large vessel, but would gain considerable flexibility in terms of the speed and concurrency of deployments, including the wherewithal to augment the LHDs (new Canberra class) with what is essentially a fast ferry service.”



(The Australian)