Cebu-based Australian-owned shipbuilder Austal Philippines is currently in talks with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for the possible development of a vessel that will match or even surpass the capabilities of vessels used by the China Coast Guard.

“In terms of the government, at the moment, we are working most closely with the Coast Guard. They seem to be the group that is dealing with the West Philippine Sea the most, based on a law enforcement approach rather than a military approach. So we are speaking to the Coast Guard on a regular basis,” Austal Philippines president Wayne Murray said in a recent briefing at the Australian Ambassador to the Philippines residence in Makati City.

“There’s no firm contracts at the moment but we’ve been working with their technical team to establish a vessel that would be suitable for the requirements to match what the Chinese Coast Guard is doing, or not match them, preferably be better than them.”

Murray said the vessel will be based on a proven platform that is currently being used by the Australian Coast Guard.

However, it will be built based on the requirements of the PCG.

“So the Australians are really focused on border protection, so that’s really about rescuing and stopping illegal immigrants. Whereas in the Philippines, while that’s a requirement, a lot of it is more about getting supplies out to your fishermen and the people on the islands that at the moment are being blocked,” he said.

“So there’s different requirements. So when I say developing it, we’re developing those requirements to match the requirements. So it’ll be custom made for the Philippines on a proven platform.”

Murray said they are currently determining the requirements of the PCG, developing the platform, understanding what range they need, how long they need to be in the sea, and the crew that they have.

“There’s been responses. We’ve been working with the technical working group. So we’ve been going backwards and forwards. But as you know, when it comes to a contract, there’s different layers of government you have to go through,” he said.

Murray is confident that Austal will be able to meet the requirements of the PCG, noting its head office has supplied all of the Coast Guard vessels for the Australian Border Force.

“So we’ve done that for the last 20 years, so we have a lot of experience in that. So I feel like we’re well-placed. We have all of that knowledge that can be transferred here, the paper knowledge, and we’ve got all of the skill sets to build those vessels and support them here in the country,” Murray said.

Austal hopes to secure the contract with the Philippine government next year.

Other projects

Aside from the development of vessels for PCG, Murray said Austal is currently developing hydrogen-powered and wind-powered vessels which will be completely built in the Philippines.

He said they are working with a company in Europe for the hydrogen-powered vessel.

“So they’ve engaged us to work with them to look at hydrogen power which is interesting because the vessel would require more hydrogen than the country can actually produce at the moment. But you’ve got to actually look at what the future looks like. You can’t design for what your infrastructure limits now,” he added.

Murray said Austal is also developing a wind-powered vessel that will travel across the Atlantic, delivering cargo.

It will be a wind-powered cargo ship that will be 100 percent wind-powered.

“It will only have motors to allow it to maneuver in port and exit the port. And then once it gets out, it’ll go back to sail,” he said.

Murray said the vessel will have solar panels on deck, battery energy inside, and water generators below.

“So it really is going to be a green vessel. And what we’re really proud about is it’s going to be built and delivered and tested here in the Philippines. So when it does start traveling, it is going to be a Philippines-built vessel that will be fully green,” he said.

“The company is going to do the test and then there’s a concept to deliver or build a number of them thereafter. So that’s what we’re working on right now and that’s what our Filipino design team is fully engaged in right now.” (PNA)