AHOY!
AHOY! - AE Smith
AE Smith afloat with unique navy project in North Queensland |
| Heading out to sea on a Royal Australian Navy patrol boat is all in a day’s work for AE Smith’s Townsville team. It’s part of the process for a major restoration of a fleet of Pacific Island Patrol Boats – where 10 navy vessels have already undergone extensive refurbishment. The “Life Extension Program” is extending the original life of each vessel from 15 to 30 years and includes complete redesign and replacement of all air conditioning and refrigeration equipment aboard each boat. The project is proving to be an extremely satisfying one for AE Smith employees, who are working against tight timelines, with no original plans to guide them and alongside a host of other trades people - but in a most unique setting: “Going out to sea to conduct trials to ensure everything is working properly is something our team really enjoys,” comments AE Smith’s Townsville General Manager, Vic Riella. “It’s been a challenging project as each boat’s set up is completely different and there’s no plans of each boat to assist – but the work has been very rewarding for my team as they’ve used skills across all aspects of their trade,” adds Adrian Carver, Townsville Service Manager. For more information contact Adrian Carver on +61 (0)7 4729 8555. |
| Restoring Pacific Patrol Boats |
| 22 Pacific Patrol Boats were supplied by the Australian Royal Navy to 12 Pacific Nations in the late 1980’s to assist with carrying out surveillance, enforcement activities in their exclusive economic zones as well as police patrols, immigration, quarantine and search and rescue. |
| The Life Extension program for the fleet is helping add another 15 years to the life of the Patrol Boats by undertaking extensive refurbishments to all the vessels specifications. To date, 10 boats have completed the rigorous program, with more to follow. |
