The Level 1 emergency towage capability operates out of Cairns and provides a dedicated 24/7 vessel and crew to provide emergency towage and first strike emergency response on behalf of AMSA in the sensitive sea areas of the Torres Strait and the northern Great Barrier Reef, as well as within the Coral Sea.
This ongoing capability will ensure AMSA can continue to effectively manage shipping and maritime pollution incidents in far North Queensland.
AMSA manages a network of 492 aids at 381 sites around Australia's coastline, assisting the commercial shipping industry to make safe and efficient passages. The maintenance of this network is currently contracted to an external service provider.
About 40 per cent of AMSA’s aids to navigation network are located within the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and the Coral Sea regions. The ETV also provides a platform to support the aids to navigation maintenance activities in these regions.
The tender was released on the AusTender government website in April and will close on July 18.
Tenderers have the option to tender for the provision of emergency towage services and/or for the maintenance of AMSA’s national aids to navigation network.
New contracts are expected to be finalised by the end of 2013 and will come into effect on July 1, 2014. Further information is available on the AMSA website or www.austender.gov.au.