A British underwater drone company is setting up its first Asia Pacific base at the Australian Maritime College (AMC) in Beauty Point, in a partnership the Tasmanian government says will create six ongoing jobs.
SubSea Craft Australia and the AMC are refurbishing a joint facility at the college’s Beauty Point site as part of a $1.9 million private redevelopment.
The company also makes an underwater-launched aerial drone and a jet-powered uncrewed surface vessel.
SubSea Craft Australia managing director Chris White said the company had looked around the world before choosing northern Tasmania for its international research and development work.
A key reason was a testing area off Beauty Point where the Australian Maritime Safety Authority allows the AMC to trial new technology under the college’s own safety management systems, rather than through the full regulatory process.
“So it allows innovators to innovate, not to have to regulate quite as heavily,” White said.
He said the testing would still be “effectively controlled”.
The first roles are expected to include maritime engineers and technicians, with some software and project management work. White said the company would also offer internships to AMC undergraduates and hire graduates.
Its flagship product is a 12-metre high-speed surface craft that can turn into a submarine and carry up to six divers. White described that vessel as “very much a defence application”.
Energy Minister Nick Duigan said Australia’s role in the AUKUS deal would bring “huge opportunity” for the technology.
He said the partnership meant graduates of the AMC, which trains Australia’s only naval architects and ocean engineers, could build careers in the state.
“They don’t necessarily need to go to the North Sea to further their careers,” Duigan said.
Liberal MP Michael Ferguson said underwater drones would play “a key role in the globe’s future in industries like aquaculture, defence, logistics and more”.
AMC Principal Mal Wise said the partnership had taken around two and a half years to reach this point.
“Subsea Craft could have gone anywhere in the world,” he said.
He said the facility was expected to open early next year, with SubSeaCraft’s full team arriving from around February.
