The contract was awarded to Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard by Bechtel Australia, mainly due to their out loading facility’s capabilities. This enabled substantial saving opportunities for the principal due to the high cost of fabrication on site, compared to off site fabrication.

The supply and profile cutting of plate material, and the forming of all the plate work, was awarded to RPG by Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard.

Amongst the benefits achieved by Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard in ordering from RPG, was the sole responsibility of RPG for material sourcing, development/profile cutting of 380 tonnes of profile cut shapes and subsequent forming in to cones, cylinders, stiffeners and flanges. As well, RPG was responsible for transport co-ordination.

No other company in Queensland can offer this complete array of material supply and services under one roof.

Not only did this service provide obvious savings from being processed in a “one stop shop”, but significant savings were achieved by nesting of material with other RPG customer’s orders, which allowed for a competitive package offer to Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard.

It also enabled easier control for Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard management resulting in increased efficiencies. In particular, Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard sub-contracted other fabricators to part assemble some of the components in to modular form for final assembly at the Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard facility.

RPG directly communicated and co-ordinated with the sub-contractors with practically no involvement by Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard management in procurement and assembly of the components.

This project is a good example of how the Steel Fabrication Industry in Queensland can take on large projects by partnering between fabricators and service providers such as RPG.

The Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard facility was able to carry out single lifts on this project to 70 tonne. Some components loaded and shipped from the dry dock and fit out wharf, were 14 metres high and up to 7 metres in diameter.

The casting of refractory material also took place at the Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard facility at a significant cost saving (compared to on site) to Bechtel Australia.

This type of contract, with a strict time frame coupled with limited Forgacs management resources, required a partner type arrangement with a company who could supply the plate material and associated profile cutting and forming services.

"The bid received from RPG was not only the lowest in price, but also the best presented. RPG was the only company who could offer supply and forming services under the one roof which meant no possible demarcation issues, which can happen, if more than one company is involved with supply.

Because of the "tight" delivery timetable, Forgacs sub-contracted some of the fabrication to a transportable modular size. Although sub-contracted by Forgacs, RPG took direct responsibility of the fabrication sub-contractors, from delivery of processed material through to assembly of modular sized components.

This resulted in tremendous benefits to Forgacs overall control of the contract. The management expertise shown throughout this contract by RPG was of the highest standard.

We thank and congratulate all RPG staff involved, on a job well done, and look forward to working together again on a similar basis.

Ray Benn
General Manager
Forgacs Cairncross Dry-dock