Keith Drake, Growth Manager – Marine, recently marked 40 years at our Devonport yard in Auckland, after beginning his career as a shipwright apprentice at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, England.
Keith’s apprenticeship was thorough: building ship modules and repairing ships, plus everything from steel fabrication and boat building to sheet metal ventilation trunking and a stint in the design office. He then spent six years on nuclear submarines at the Devonport UK complex, his introduction to Babcock.
In the mid-1980s, the New Zealand Government sent a team to British dockyard towns like Plymouth and Portsmouth to recruit ship repair workers. Anyone who signed on had their immigration and travel paid for by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF). Keith and his family moved to New Zealand and began a new adventure.
Within five years, the New Zealand yard was privatised and Babcock took over the management contract.
“Babcock followed me to New Zealand,” Keith jokes.
From shipwright to business development
Within six months Keith had moved from a shipwright role into the design office, where he spent the next ten years as a draftsman and design draftsman. He then moved into project management. After a few years managing Navy projects, Keith moved into commercial projects, leading the business unit for commercial ship repair and then focusing on business development for the dry dock. He is now Growth Manager – Marine for Babcock Australasia.
For the past 30 years, Keith’s job has been bringing commercial ships into the yard alongside the Navy work.
“We are open to docking all types of ships, but ideally for work packages where we can involve our workshops and subcontractors,” he says.
A ship worth remembering
Keith has docked everything from island ferries to superyachts.
A standout is the FNS Vendémiaire. The French Navy frigate, based in New Caledonia, has made the trip to Auckland for at least four major refits. In 2020 the team rebuilt her galley and refrigerated stores, working two shifts to finish within the yard period. In 2023 she was back for 12 weeks, with all seven of her main and auxiliary exhaust systems replaced.
“That was great work for the yard and for our commercial projects team,” Keith notes.
The people behind the work
Keith is quick to point out that while he’s been the customer-facing person, commercial projects are successful because of the project management, production and subcontractor teams who plan, engineer and deliver.
“Working with our project and production teams to come up with the solution and deliver the project is always enjoyable,” he says. “The type of maintenance work and engineering is often similar, but the customers, their nationalities and the ships keep it interesting, and it is great to see how quickly our team adjusts to the visiting engineers and crew.”
“There’s a lot of varied work you can do in this industry. There’s lots of opportunities for you to find what you enjoy doing.”
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