New pilot boats for Fremantle Ports

Fremantle Ports has awarded a $7.6m contract to Geraldton boat and ship builders, Dongara Marine, to construct two new pilot boats to enhance its small boat fleet.

Inner Harbour
Safety
Published 15 Mar 2023

New pilot boats for Fremantle Ports

Fremantle Ports has awarded a $7.6m contract to Geraldton boat and ship builders, Dongara Marine, to construct two new pilot boats to enhance its small boat fleet.

The first pilot boat is scheduled for delivery in mid-2024 and the second later that year.

Fremantle Ports CEO Michael Parker said the new pilot vessels would be pivotal in the organisation’s continued delivery of an efficient and highly-reliable service to ship owners, shipping agents and customers.

“At the core of our operations is the safe, dependable and rapid arrival and departure of ships and pilot operations are fundamental to that,” Mr Parker said.

“The port’s pilots, working for our service provider Fremantle Pilots, work around the clock in all weather conditions, at all hours and our pilot boats transport them to and from ships offshore,” he said.

“The new vessels are also relied upon by our small craft masters and crew, who operate them.”

The two new pilot boats will be built to plans by Southerly Designs of Port Denison.

With origins in the cray fishing industry, Dongara Marine has a proven track record of building a wide range of vessels that operate successfully in Western Australian waters and elsewhere.

Mr Parker said the firm had expanded its workforce to take on the Fremantle Ports contract and other work, with all its 59 staff, including five apprentices, expected to work on the pilot boats project.