HMS Spey undergoes repairs at Tropical Reef Shipyard in first for Cairns marine industry

A Cairns shipyard is showing off its growing capability as one of the Royal Navy’s busiest warships arrives in Cairns for maintenance. See the in-depth footage.

In major step for the Far North marine industry, an active warship from the British Royal Navy for the first time will be undergoing its usual maintenance in a Cairns shipyard.

HMS Spey is a British offshore patrol vessel sailing with the Royal Navy in operations around the Indo-Pacific, conducting patrols to combat issues such as illegal fishing, organised crime and drug smuggling.

The stopover is a major boon for the Tropical Reef Shipyard which will be conducting maintenance on the 90-metre, 2000 tonne vessel.

British Navy ship HMS Spey has docked at the Tropical Reef Shipyard for maintenance work, the first time a British warship has undergone maintenance at the Port of Cairns. Picture: Brendan Radke

Business development manager for TRS Andrew Wagner said it was a major milestone for the shipyard and a sign of things to come as capability continues to grow.

“This is the first British vessel from the Royal Navy for TRS and it is a big get as this sort of maintenance would have previously gone to places such as Singapore, Japan or Hawaii,” Mr Wagner said.

“It’s an opportunity for us to show off our capability and secure this sort of work in the future by building that relationship.”

Mr Wagner said they had around 60 people working on the vessel while it is in the facility, including local contractors.

“This kind of vessel is the perfect size for us. We can complete work on water in dock or pull it out of the water with the lift,” he said.

HMS Spey is slightly larger than the 80m Arafura Class offshore patrol vessels that will call Cairns their home port within the decade.

British Navy ship HMS Spey has docked at the Tropical Reef Shipyard for maintenance work, the first time a British warship has undergone maintenance at the Port of Cairns. Marine workers Tupoumatatika Meremere and Dyfan Tinnuche work on the hull on HMS Spey. Picture: Brendan Radke

Michael Proudman has been Commanding Officer of the HMS Spey during its 18 month mission in the Pacific, which has seen it patrolling, conducting diplomatic missions, and delivering disaster relief after cyclones, volcanic eruptions and even a tsunami.

“The ship has been in the Pacific for 18 months as part of a persistent presence and engagement in the region,” Commander Proudman said.

“We helped deliver water tanks in Vanuatu after the cyclone and we were one of the first vessels to respond after the volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga.”

Commander Proudman said that being able to access the maintenance capabilities in Cairns placed them in better position to respond in the case of disaster or rapid deployment in the region.

.British Navy ship HMS Spey has docked at the Tropical Reef Shipyard for maintenance work, the first time a British warship has undergone maintenance at the Port of Cairns. Commanding Officer of HMS Spey Mike Proudman on the ship's bridge. Picture: Brendan Radke

“In order to access similar facilities we would have to travel all the way down south to somewhere like Brisbane or even further afield to places such as Singapore,” he said.

“Cairns is a great place for us to be, the ship’s company enjoys its as a place to get a bit of downtime and the package with the shipyard has been brilliant in getting the maintenance done.”

Commander Proudman was hopeful that the relationship between the Royal Navy and Cairns would continue to grow.

“We have our sister ship HMS Tamar which will be in Cairns in the near future for its maintenance period and in the years to come the UK will be deploying a larger frigate on a similar model which will come out here,” he said.

“The experience are having now will determine where we maintain out vessels in the future.”

Originally published as HMS Spey undergoes repairs at Tropical Reef Shipyard in first for Cairns marine industry