Environment
Environmental consulting solutions for responsible, resilient and sustainable development including impact assessment, ecology and contamination management.
Cairns slipway redevelopment
RPS worked on the $10 million redevelopment at Austal’s Cairns shipyard that saw the installation of the Pacific’s largest mobile ship hoist.
Increased demand
Austal’s Cairns shipyard is used by private, commercial and naval vessel operators in Northern Australia and plays a key role in maintenance support for its clients. With increased demand for its services and more border patrol activity in Australia and the Pacific region, Austal decided to invest in a redevelopment of its shipyard.
The redevelopment included a seven-storey-high mobile boat hoist capable of lifting vessels out of the water from the Port of Cairns and transferring them to Austal’s hard stand or maintenance halls.
Shipyard upgrade
Austal employed RPS to undertake environmental, planning and survey works on the proposed $10 million redevelopment of the site.
RPS provided detailed evaluations and risk analysis of the works and conducted environmental assessments and surveys. The team delivered a high level of integrated services that included pragmatic solutions to reduce redevelopment costs and minimise environmental risks.
Once the required assessments were completed, the redevelopment was able to go ahead. The project resulted in the installation of the mobile boat hoist, an improved shipyard with re-fit capability, and a 1,200-tonne rail slipway that has more than 360 metres of serviced wharf space.
Importantly, the site has increased capacity to meet its clients’ requirements.
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