Cairns' Tropical Reef Shipyard (TRS) is looking to foreign navies to expand its existing defence business. In June 2023 TRS completed a package of work on the Royal Navy (RN) River class Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) HMS Spey, which alongside HMS Tamar, is forward deployed to the Indo-Pacific region.
While the shipyard is eyeing further opportunities with the RN, it’s also pursuing work with the United States Navy (USN), United States Coast Guard (USCG) and French Armed Forces in New Caledonia (FANC) among others.
Tropical Reef’s effort at diversification comes amid the drawdown of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Hydrographic fleet and continued delays to the Arafura class OPV. TRS has supported the Hydrographic force since the early 2000s, however, as the fleet is retired in favour of uncrewed systems, this line of work is coming to an end. TRS has also invested heavily in its workforce and infrastructure to support the Arafura class, however, continued delays to the program have impacted that line of effort.
Working with foreign defence customers is not new for TRS which has maintained US Army watercraft for 20 years. Before the fallout of AUKUS killed the arrangement, TRS was also slated to perform out-of-the-water maintenance work on the French Navy’s new 80-metre Félix Éboué class OPVs based in France’s Pacific colonies.
Andrew Wagner, Head of Business Development at TRS told ADM that discussions have since resulted and work is ongoing. He also noted that TRS, with its 3000 tonne, 110m capacity slipway, is one of only a few facilities in the region able to accommodate the new OPVs. Neither French Polynesia nor New Caledonia have facilities of a sufficient size to service vessels and, in recent years, France has relied on yards in New Zealand to support the even larger Floréal class surveillance frigates.
While work with the French is not guaranteed, work with the British has already begun. In June 2023, TRS completed a subcontract with BAE Systems UK to perform work on HMS Spey, while alongside in Cairns. Due in part to positive feedback received from the RN and BAE, TRS now has its eyes set on hull inspections scheduled for both HMS Spey and Tamar next year.
While it’s not yet clear where the inspections will be performed, ADM understands that TRS is one of three candidates alongside yards in Japan and Singapore. A particular strength of TRS in that competition, Wagner said, was its location near the centre of Cairns allowing RN sailors to simply walk to and from ships undergoing work.
HMS Spey’s commanding officer, Commander Michael Proudman RN, said that “Cairns is a great place for us. The ship’s company enjoys it, as a place to get a bit of downtime, and the maintenance package with the shipyard has been brilliant.”
In addition to the British and French, TRS is also in advanced discussions with the USCG and USN. Initially, Wagner said, this will likely take the form of maintenance work aboard USCG Fast Response Cutters (FRC), based out of Guam and deployed to the South Pacific.
In the longer term, however, he left the door open to serving larger vessels such as the USCGs 127m Legend-class cutters, or U.S Navy 103m Spearhead expeditionary fast transports and 128m Independence-class littoral combat ships. Work with the U.S. comes with caveats though, Wagner noted, because the U.S Jones Act places limits on how much work can be done on U.S. vessels in Australia. As a result, he said, work on U.S vessels would mainly occur while they’re alongside at TRS, rather than out of the water.