Cairns Businesses Keep It Local

A new vehicular ferry carrying tourists, residents and road freight over the Daintree River in Far North Queensland is proof of the ability of local companies to succeed against competition from all quarters.

The new ferry was built by English Engineering in Cairns using 120 tonnes of 250 Grade XLERPLATE® steel supplied by local distributor Tonkin Steel.

It is the second cable guided ferry constructed by English Engineering for the river crossing to the world famous Daintree Rainforest area.

"Operation of the ferry service is put up for tender every five years," English Engineering founder and managing director Pat English explained. "Whichever company lodges the winning tender has to supply a ferry and operate it seven days a week from 6am until midnight.

"We built our first Daintree ferry for the successful tenderer in 1990 and we were fortunate enough to be approached again earlier this year.

"I believe there was another bid put in by an Australian company which has manufacturing facilities in Vietnam. We were successful and so the work stayed in Australia.

"The first ferry we built was smaller than this one, but we learned from the experience. Building a ferry is not as straightforward as it seems. For a start it has to be built to meet strict survey standards and you're not just fabricating steel, but also providing painting services for a marine environment."

"For this project we leased a shed from Cairns Slipways and when the ferry was complete we were able to launch it straight from the shed. It was then towed up the coast and put in place on the river."

The Daintree River ferry, the only cable guided ferry in service in Australia's tropical regions, is subjected to a harsh working environment.

"Lots of debris is washed down the river, particularly in the wet season," Pat English explained. "You can get tree trunks and all sorts of material crashing into the side of the ferry as it crosses the river.

"The river bed also changes and after floods it can become even more shallow than usual, so that the ferry will scrape the bottom as it comes into the river bank if it is fully laden.

"When the owners approached us we directed them to Richard Stewart, a Cairns naval architect with plenty of experience and he came up with the design.

"It was a good fabrication project to win. There were very few changes all the way through and during the construction period from February to September we had up to 12 of our workers involved at any one time."

Knowledge of English Engineering's expertise in cable guided ferry construction has now spread overseas and the company is currently in discussions with a company in Malaysia about the supply of a similar vessel to the one now in service on the Daintree River.

English Engineering has operated in Cairns since it was established by Pat English in 1978. It provides welding and fabricating services including on-site work throughout North Queensland.

It has been involved in steel fabrication for previous major projects including the Cairns Central shopping mall and the Quicksilver Pontoon tourist facility on Agincourt Reef.

"We've been a user of XLERPLATE® steel since the day we opened for business and have always dealt with Tonkin Steel," Pat English said.

"You've got to have good steel that you can rely on. It's too late to replace it after it's been welded in. XLERPLATE® steel has never given us any issues. If it could weld itself it would be perfect."