Cairns: Norship sells to Varley Group in major maritime industry shake-up

A major Cairns shipyard has sold to a southern company as the industry cashes in on a promise of rapid naval expansion in Far North Queensland.

A MAJOR Cairns company with more than 180 staff has sold to a southern firm as the maritime industry cashes in on the promise of rapid naval expansion in Far North Queensland.

Norship Marine has bases in Cairns, Port Hinchinbrook and Darwin after being launched by owner Ray Fry and his family in 1984.

The company has sold to Varley Group, one of Australia’s oldest engineering and manufacturing facilities with Newcastle, Brisbane, Ballarat, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Mackay, Townsville, Darwin, Katherine – as well as three locations in the US and one in Indonesia.

The private family-owned company was established a century before Norship in 1886 and has developed a reputation as a manufacturing powerhouse across multiple industries including, crucially, the maritime sector.

Norship Marine operating with all cylinders firing in February 2016 with maintenance, refits and restoration underway two Armidale Class patrol boats, one Cape Class patrol boat, one Pacific patrol boat, one Freemantle Class patrol boat, two Bay Class patrol boats and 30 commercial vessels (not all pictured). PICTURE: SUPPLIED

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The Cairns Post understands current Norship CEO Olav Groot will be retained to ensure the change of hands runs smoothly, and Varley Group intends to build its Cairns workforce.

Mr Fry is capitalising on Norship and Cairns’ enviable position after being earmarked by the navy as one of three regional maintenance centres as Defence stretches its reach into the Pacific region.

Norship Marine Director Ray Fry gives Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Treasurer Cameron Dick a tour of the Portsmith facility. PICTURE: STEWART McLEAN

Norship is a frontrunner to win a suite of lucrative contracts as new navy patrol boats come online – and this transaction is a vote of confidence in that future.

It follows the sale of Cairns firm BSE Maritime Solutions to global shipbuilder Austal for $27.5 million in October last year.

The city’s other slipway, Tropical Reef Shipyard, remains in local ownership and also stands to win critical navy maintenance and sustainment contracts.

Norship Marine’s boat building and ship repair shipyard at the Cairns Port on Trinity Inlet, Cairns. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

The sale has been in negotiations for months but the secret is only now getting out.

The Cairns Post contacted Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch, who has been pushing for major maritime expansion for years, to comment about the Norship sale.

He said the addition of Varley Group would take the industry to another level.

“I think it’s a fabulous move,” he said.

“Taking nothing away from Ray Fry and his family, who built it to this position … this is a major step up the ladder.

Norship Marine has sold to major Australian company Varley Group.

“We now have a prime (contractor) in Cairns (in Austal), we have a major family business (in Varley Group) that certainly covers a lot more of the spectrum than Norship did … and of course we’ve got Troppos.

“We have magnificent capacity up here and it’s a real endorsement of where we’re going to have this new owner.

“These companies don’t buy this sort of strategic investment unless they are absolutely totally convinced that this is where the opportunities are.

“This is a massive vote of confidence and I’m very, very excited.”

Norship Marine workers and subcontracted staff perform maintenance on the Australian Border Force vessel Cape Weasel at the Norship slipway and ship yard in Portsmith. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

Mr Entsch said the three slipways had different skills and resources and were working together to increase the workload for everyone – including Austal pushing ahead with plans to build a common-user lift facility.

“A decade ago, they would have said over our dead body,” he said.

“Now they’ve realised that rather than carving up the pie so everyone gets a piece, they can do it the smart way.

“They are growing the pie so that everyone ends up with a full pie-plus.”

A major ship is torn to shreds at Norship. PICTURE: STEWART McLEAN

Defence is yet to publicly release full plans for the expansion of HMAS Cairns but Mr Entsch said Ports North had confirmed it was making space available – although it was unclear whether that would include freeing up Admiralty Island for maritime development.

The call for tenders went out in December for partners to build a potential billion-dollar industry in Cairns as part of Plan Galileo — a massive operation linked to the Australian Government’s $170 billion investment in naval shipbuilding.

The successful business would be required to deliver a “new, innovative approach to the sustainment of the navy’s fleet” as new offshore patrol vessels come online.

Regional maintenance centres have also been announced for Perth and Darwin, but Cairns will be the first cab off the rank.

Norship and Varley Group have been asked for comment.

Norship fast facts

■ Employs about 180 staff

■ Main shipyard was built in 1984 by the Fry family to service reef tour vessels and the Gulf prawn trawler fleet

■ Back then a 160-tonne travel lift was established

■ In 2005, the company began maintenance contracts for Australian Customs Bay Class Patrol Boats

■ In 2008, work started to build a 400-tonne lift to win contracts to service the navy’s Armidale Class Patrol Boats

■ Norship had performed more than 100 patrol boat dockings by 2016

■ It has four travel lifts ranging from 40 tonnes to 400 tonnes

■ Five locations in North Queensland and one in Darwin

Originally published as Cairns: Norship sells to Varley Group in major maritime industry shake-up