What is "austal"

Austal is an Australian-based global ship building company and defense prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defense and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, high speed passenger and vehicle ferries and specialist utility vessels including offshore windfarm and crew transfer vessels.

Austal has three major ship building facilities. Defense vessels are designed and constructed in Henderson, Western Australia and Mobile, Alabama in the United States of America and commercial vessels are constructed in Balamban, Cebu in the Philippines. Vessel support is provided through service centres located in Australia, the United States of America and Oman in the Middle East. Corporate headquarters is co-located at the Australian ship building facility in Henderson, Western Australia.

Since 1988, Austal has designed and constructed over 250 vessels for navies, defense forces and commercial fleet operators around the world, including the United States Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. Major contracts currently include the Independence class littoral combat ship and Joint High Speed Vessel for the United States Navy, the Cape-class patrol boat for the Australian Border Force and the High Speed Support Vessel for the Royal Navy of Oman.