Australian crane company misses out on contract to help build future frigates at ASC
A KEY contract for infrastructure at ASC’s Osborne shipyard has gone to a foreign company over an Australian one.
A KEY contract for infrastructure at ASC’s Osborne shipyard has gone to a foreign company over an Australian one.
Eilbeck Cranes, a national company with an office in Adelaide, said they were specifically asked to bid for the $26 million contract to build the cranes that will heave parts of the Future Frigates around. Then they missed out, because they were not considered “commercially competitive”.
Eilbeck managing director Tom Eilbeck said he thought it was Finnish company Konecranes which won.
He was told Eilbeck’s bid was $2.5 million more than the next bid.
Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick said Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne had “questions to answer”.
“I was under the impression that Australian industry was going to do the heavy lifting on this project but clearly that’s not the case,” he said.
The Federal Government has been emphasising the need for as much Australian content as possible on the major defence projects, as long as Australian companies are competitive.
But Mr Pyne said he was on “Team Taxpayer”.
“No one is more supportive of Australian Industry Content than I am, but in this case the bid was much more expensive than the winning bid and (Australian Naval Infrastructure) has a responsibility to be wise not wasteful with taxpayers’ money,” he said.
A Konecranes spokesman said the company would “engage our Australian supply operations, our European supply networks and our Asian supply networks to deliver this type of project”.