Newcastle marine group awarded superliner contracts 

Newcastle-owned Forgacs Group has been awarded the contract to refurbish two Australian-based superliners at its Brisbane Cairncross Dockyard over the next six weeks.

Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia, which represents both P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises, said that the multi-million dollar dry docking programs were a prime example of the economic benefits delivered from Australia’s growing cruise industry.

Princess Cruises’ 77,000 tonne superliner Sun Princess went into Forgacs’ Brisbane drydock last Friday for a two-week program of scheduled maintenance, which will include the installation of a giant poolside movie screen.

P&O Cruises’ Pacific Dawn will then enter Forgacs’ shipyard in mid-May for its scheduled refurbishment program.

Forgacs’ Newcastle floating dock does not have the lifting capacity to accommodate the two superliners; hence the work is being carried out in Brisbane and coordinated from its Newcastle head office.

P&O Cruises will deploy the Pacific Sun for its first cruising season out of the Port of Newcastle in September and October this year, and in February and March 2011. It was recently announced that a third cruising season would be added to the schedule for 2012.

Ms Sherry said the decision to base the Pacific Sun in Newcastle will inject more than $3 million annually to the Hunter economy through passenger and crew spending, port fees and ship stores.

“The refurbishment program scheduled for the Sun Princess and Pacific Dawn demonstrates that a Newcastle company is taking a lead role in the procurement of work associated with the growth of the Australian cruise market, which is conservatively delivering more than $1.2 billion to the country’s economy,” Ms Sherry said.

The foundations of the Forgacs Group were established by a young Hungarian immigrant tradesman and its current Managing Director, Stephen Forgacs, more than 50 years ago.

It has since grown to be a provider of world-class engineering and marine construction services with operations based in Newcastle, Brisbane, Gladstone and Sydney for commercial and naval vessels.
Mr Forgacs said that his Group appreciated the confidence that Carnival Australia had shown in awarding the contract for the two vessel refurbishment program.

“The current health of our order book at the Brisbane and Newcastle shipyard facilities allows Forgacs to continue providing secure employment and opportunity for a talented new generation of Australian shipbuilders.”