The Babcock Australasia (Babcock) and Atlantic & Peninsula Australia (A&P) partnership, ‘Team Bower’, held a Maritime Industry Day on 23 February in Newcastle to grow regional maritime industry relationships.
Around 120 industry participants attended the event hosted by Hunter Defence, which focussed on how local industry can be involved in Team Bower’s response to the Commonwealth’s Regional Maintenance Provider East (RMP-E) solution for fleet maritime sustainment services on the east coast of Australia.
Announced in September 2022, Team Bower is a partnership that capitalises on the combined experience of Babcock and A&P as leading naval sustainment providers for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Babcock’s Executive Director – Strategy & Future Business Martin Halloran said that Team Bower is committed to emphasising the ‘Regional’ part of the Regional Maintenance Provider Model.
“Suppliers are crucial to deliver the work that both companies do on Garden Island in Sydney, in many ways our capability resides in our suppliers, and this differentiates us from large defence primes who tend to compete with smaller firms for work,” Mr Halloran said.
A&P’s Operations Director Martin Mitchell said that the Hunter has a rich maritime history and some nation-leading capability that we need to continue to utilise to help keep our Navy ships at sea.
“We are absolutely delighted with the turnout and the level of interest in Newcastle and the Hunter and we look forward to growing our supplier base for current and future work,” Mr Mitchell said.
Hunter Defence’s Chair Tim Owen said they look forward to working with industry partners to support the RAN’s critical national endeavours.
“With the Hunter region’s significant shipbuilding and sustainment history and current industry capabilities, the region is well placed to support and sustain the RAN’s expanding maritime systems” Mr Owen said.
The Newcastle event follows Team Bower’s successful industry engagements in 2022 and Babcock’s Maritime Industry Day in Perth on 16 February, which brought together more than 100 Western Australian SMEs with Defence West, Henderson Alliance, Australian Industry Defence Network (AIDN), and Office of Defence Industry Support (ODIS).
