The Darwin Ship Lift Facility will provide a site for maintenance and servicing of Defence and Australian Border Force vessels, as well as commercial and private vessels. It will be designed to provide services to the general maritime sector and the Federal Government's Department of Defence and Australian Border Force.
It will be commercially operated under a legislated open access regime and will be overseen by the NT Government's Utilities Commission, which will regulate pricing and access.
The facility will have:
- a 26-metre-wide, 103-metre-long, and six-metre-deep ship lift, with a lifting capability of 5,000 tonnes
- self-propelled Modular Transporter units
- six wet berths
- a vessel wash bay
- a blast and paint building
- an administration building
- hard stand areas for ship repair and maintenance
- site utilities, security and ancillary facilities, and
- East Arm utilities upgrades.
Key Dates
| Aug 2020 | EOIs Open |
| Sep 2020 | EOIs Close |
| Nov 2020 | RFP Open |
| Jul 2022 | Preferred Bidder Selection |
| Sep 2023 | Contract Award |
| 2024 | Expected Construction Commencement |
| 2025 | Expected Construction Completion |
Funding contributions
| NT Government |
Financing
| Debt Finance: | Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility |
Procurement
| Procuring Agency: | Northern Territory Government |
| Shortlist: | Besix Watpac, McConnell Dowell, Clough Projects Australia, Sitzler and Territoria |
| Successful Tenderer: | Clough and BMD Joint Venture (head contractor) |
| Procurement note: | In December 2021, the NT Government selected Territoria Civil and a Clough-BMD Joint Venture to proceed to the design development stage of procurement. In July 2022, the NT Government announced a Clough-BMD Joint Venture as the preferred contractor to design and construct the project, however in December 2022, Clough entered into voluntary administration. In February 2023, WeBuild completed its acquisition of Clough and the NT Government is currently undertaking due diligence for this following these developments. |
| Related contracts: |
PROJECT HISTORY
| Dec 2015 | A Competitive tender process was conducted for the facility's operations and maintenance contract. Paspaley Group was awarded the contract. |
| Nov 2019 | Finalisation of project development agreement with Paspaley Group that will include transfer of a block of the company's harbourside land to the NT Government. |
| Dec 2019 | The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) confirmed that it will provide a $300 million loan towards building the Ship Lift Facility. |
| Aug 2020 | EOIs were released for the Design and Construction contract, closing on 25 September 2020. |
| Nov 2020 | The Federal and Northern Territory Governments reached contractual close on the $300 million concessional loan from NAIF. The Northern Territory Government also shortlisted Watpac Construction, McConnell Dowell Constructors, Clough Projects Australia, Sitzler and Territoria to move to the Request for Proposals phase. |
| May 2021 | The Northern Territory Government released a Request for Tender seeking engineering entities to provide a range of services for a dual ECI style Detailed Design Development Phase, and potentially through to the Design and Construct phase of the project. Services include design and whole of life review, participation in design development workshops, and other engineering advisory services as required. |
| Nov 2021 | The project's draft Environmental Impact Statement was submitted for assessment by the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority and placed on public exhibition, closing on 14 January 2022. |
| Dec 2021 | In December 2021, the Northern Territory Government refined the shortlist further with Territoria Civil and the Clough-BMD Joint Venture proceeding to the design development stage of the procurement process. |
| May 2022 | The 2022-23 NT Budget allocated $121 million to the project in FY2022-23, and confirmed construction is expected to commence in 2022. |
| Jul 2022 | The Northern Territory Government announced a Clough-BMD Joint Venture as the preferred contractor to design and construct the Darwin Ship Lift Facility. |
| Mar 2023 | The NT Government awarded Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec a technical design contract for the project. |
| Sep 2023 | The NT Government formally awarded the Darwin Ship Lift Facility contract to the Clough and BMD Constructions Joint Venture. |
| May 2024 | The NT Government announced the contract award for the supply and delivery of the ship lift operating system to Pearlson ShipLift Corporation. The Government also announced the commencement of early works. |
| May 2024 | The 2024-25 Northern Territory Budget allocated $487 million to the project over four years to FY2027-28. |
