AMSA Chief Executive Officer Graham Peachey said the Level 1 emergency 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.
“This allows AMSA the ability to respond to maritime environmental emergencies in sensitive sea areas of the Torres Strait, the northern Great Barrier Reef, as well as within the Coral Sea both quickly and effectively,” Mr Peachey said.
AMSA manages a network of 492 navigational aids at 381 sites around Australia, assisting the commercial shipping industry to make safe and efficient passages.
“About 40 per cent of AMSA’s aids to navigation are located within the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and the Coral Sea regions, which are challenging to navigate,” Mr Peachey said.
“The emergency towage vessel also provides a platform to support the maintenance of aids to navigation in these areas.”
AMSA entered into the contracts with Brisbane-based company Australian Maritime Systems Limited on February 5 following a rigorous open tender process which began in 2013, when the tender was released on the AusTender website on April 26 and closed on July 18.
Australian Maritime Systems Limited will maintain AMSA’s aids to navigation network and provide a Level 1 emergency towage capability under the contract. Both contracts are fixed price for a term of ten years.
Mr Peachey said a newbuild vessel would begin operations on July 1, 2014 and will be replaced by a second newbuild vessel in 2016.
The aids to navigation it will assist in maintaining include traditional lighthouses, beacons, buoys, Racons, Differential Global Positioning System stations, radars, Automatic Identification System stations, broadcasting tide gauges, wave rider buoys and a weather station.
The maintenance contractor will also upgrade aids to navigation equipment during the contract period.
“These are used as key navigational tools by seafarers, enabling them to take responsibility for their safety at sea,” Mr Peachey said.
“They are part of AMSA’s commitment to ensuring thousands of international vessels visiting Australian ports each year can safely navigate their way through our pristine marine areas.
“The upgrade of the aids to navigation during the life of the contract will deliver substantial additional value to AMSA.”
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