Construction begins on Australia’s first CCPB

Construction on the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service’s first of eight Cape Class Patrol Boats (CCPBs) was marked by a keel laying ceremony at Austal’s facility.

In August 2011, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service had awarded a contract to Austal to design and construct eight CCPB and also to provide through-life support.

Austal chief executive officer Andrew Bellamy said: "This total solution capability represents the future of our Australian business, as we continue to expand and enhance the strategic industry capability necessary to meet the current and future defence needs of Australia and other nations."

Under the contract, the company will provide eight-year support for a full range of intermediate and depot level maintenance activities and also includes options for in-service support for the CCPBs fleet life.

The enhanced endurance and flexibility enables the vessels to serve in more severe sea conditions while protecting Australia’s borders from multiple maritime threats.

The Cape-class boats will be deployed across the Australian exclusive economic zone (EEZ), replacing Bay-class vessels, for aerial surveillance, community reports and/or radar sightings.

The 57.8m-long boats will feature gun mounts to install deck mounted machine guns and have an overall beam of 10.3m and a draft of 3m while carrying a crew of 18.

Powered by two Caterpillar 3516C main engines, the ships’ propulsion system can provide a maximum speed of 25k and a range of 4,000nm.

The first CCPB is scheduled for launch in 2012 and is likely to be delivered in March 2013 while the entire fleet is scheduled to be operational by August 2015.