Australian Marine Complex - FAQs

The Australian Marine Complex (AMC) is Western Australia’s key shipbuilding and sustainment industrial precinct. It supports manufacturing, fabrication, assembly and maintenance requirements for the marine, defence, energy and resource industries. Located just 23km’s south of the city in Perth’s premier industrial corridor, the Western Trade Coast, the AMC is one of only two naval shipbuilding locations in Australia.

The AMC Common User Facility (CUF) is owned by the Western Australian Government and comprises of a 400,000m2, integrated heavy-engineering, fabrication and assembly facility situated within the Fabrication Precinct of the AMC. The AMC CUF is Western Australia’s premier location for ocean-front infrastructure and services.

As a capability enhancer, the CUF provides critical shared infrastructure that enables project productivity and business growth.

The CUF includes extensive facilities, vast laydown areas and is incredibly flexible, tailored to meet customer needs. Examples of projects completed at the CUF include; maintenance and sustainment of defence vessels, decommissioning of ex naval vessels, construction of superyachts, fabrication of shiploaders for resource industry and subsea spools for oil and gas pipelines.

The AMC comprises of five Precincts including, Shipbuilding, Fabrication, Support, Technology and Recreational Boating. The CUF is within the Fabrication Precinct at the AMC.

The AMC CUF was established in 2003 and has been operating continuously, 24/7 since it first opened.

The AMC CUF is owned by the Western Australian Government under the management of DevelopmentWA.

Ventia Australia Pty Ltd (Ventia) is the Operator and Facility Manager of the AMC CUF and its assets, including the Floating Dock and Transfer System. Ventia are responsible for marketing, operating and maintaining the CUF and are the first point of contact for access to the CUF.

Ventia also works with the WA State Government (through the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation) to market the facility to national and international groups across the defence, marine, oil and gas, and resource sectors, and to coordinate activities among the various users on site.

The CUF provides infrastructure to industry on a project-by-project basis. Companies using the CUF provide their own management and workforce and are accountable for their project execution. The Facility Manager provides access to required facilities for an agreed period. The CUF operates a pay-for-use system that enables users to control their expenditure as required by the phases of the projects utilising the facility.

The CUF is a project-based facility and accommodates projects from various industries, including Defence, Marine, Resource, Energy, Decommissioning, Logistics and Renewables. It provides infrastructure and facilities for project execution but does not allow companies to run their entire business from the CUF.

The CUF features and benefits:

• 80m x 60m fabrication hall, workshops, warehouses, project offices and amenities
• Floating Dock and Self Propelled Modular Transporters
• Approx. 400,000m2 laydown and assembly area
• 6 wharves, including load-out, maintenance, heavy lift, Roll-on Roll-off (RoRo)
• 24-hour operations including 24-hour manned security and CCTV surveillance, light towers and underground reticulated services for power, water, communications and sewer
• Access to the State High Wide Load Corridor to transport loads of 9m x 9m x 50m
• Provision of port security plan, Maritime Transport and Offshore Facilities Security Act 2003 (MTOFSA) and cargo terminal operation areas
• Customs gazetted wharves allowing for the import or export of international freight
• Access to local, skilled and high-quality workforce and industry within Henderson precinct.

The wharf is “dry hired” to the user or shipping agent booking the wharf. The CUF does not arrange vessel linespersons, tugs or pilots. When booking a wharf, the responsibilities lie with the user or shipping agent to arrange.

The assembly/laydown area and pavement has been designed to accommodate heavy loads in and around the facility including access to the wharves.

The facility has a combination of dense graded asphalt and chip and seal on the laydown area around the facility.

The laydown is nominally rated to 10t/m2 load bearing capacity. Different load bearing capacity is located throughout the site. If users need to exceed 10t/m2 load bearing capacity, ground bearing tests will be required.

Users must make their specific requirements known to the Facility Manager, who will coordinate the best location for the project based on required space, power, water, sewage, surface, and load requirements.

The CUF has different power, water and sewage services.

• Power - 10A and 15A single phase power - 32A and 63A three phase power is available across the facility.
• Water - Potable water and sewage is located across the facility.

Users must make their specific requirements known to the Facility Manager, who will coordinate the best location for the project based on required space, power, water, sewage, surface, and load requirements.

There is no common conference room for hire within the CUF. For conference facilities nearby, contact the AMC Jakovich Centre here. 

The CUF has a variety of buildings to hire out for the duration of your project. For more information, please review the AMC CUF facility description here. 

There are public toilets onsite and sewer connection points for users to connect portable facilities into.

The CUF operates on a project-by-project basis. You cannot set-up your business at the CUF.

As agreed with the Facility Manager, you can lease out laydown area or infrastructure for the duration of your project. If you require long term lease of land, contact DevelopmentWA here.

Temporary buildings can be brought on to the facility but must be secured against high winds. Connection into CUF services such as power, plumbing or communication must be completed by the Facility Manager (FM). These can be organised through Operations and Maintenance department. For more information about the temporary building requirements, please refer to the Facility Rules here. 

CUF facility access passes are issued by the FM Security team.

Induction content and instructions are supplied to specific authorised inductors, who will provide the information to those that require a CUF Pass.

Passes will not be issued unless supported by the following:
• Completed Facility Pass Issue Form
- The Facility pass issue form will be provided by the Company that is coordinating your induction.
• Completed induction questionnaire or certificate -
- The induction certificate will be available to you on the online portal when you complete the induction.
• Valid photo identification

An AMC CUF induction must be completed before an AMC CUF pass is issued. There are three types of AMCCUF inductions:

• AMC CUF General Induction – completed by Users and their subcontractors
• FM Employee Induction – completed by FM employees
• FM Contractor Induction – completed by people working for the FM

The pass office is open from 7.00am - 12.00pm and 12.30pm – 3.00pm Monday to Friday excluding public holidays.

• A person may be escorted by an AMC CUF pass holder to complete works if it is an emergency and it is not reasonable or practicable for that person to complete a CUF induction. Generally, all workers onsite must complete the induction prior to accessing the site.
  
  A person may be escorted in the following situations:
  
  Visitors – A person attending site as a visitor and will not be undertaking works, typically less than half a day on site.
  • Unplanned / Emergency works – a person who is attending to an unforeseen event that is urgent, where it is not practical to first complete an induction, typically less than one day on site.
  
  Escorted persons must be entered in the AMCCUF Escorted Persons Register at the gatehouse before being released to the host.
  
  Escorted persons must be under direct supervision of an AMC CUF pass holder at all times.

Delivery trucks are allowed on the CUF. Prior to entry to the CUF a delivery driver will require:

• A delivery / collection docket or written authorisation from the User of the Designated Facility to deliver / pick-up materials
• A valid driver’s licence
• A company name and contact so that they can be directed to the correct User’s Designated Facility
• Agree to the conditions of entry prior to accessing the CUF

Taxis and passenger ride-sharing vehicles are not allowed within the CUF. Passengers can organise drop-off/pickup outside of the CUF entry gates.

The minimum Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) requirement for working onsite is safety helmet and enclosed footwear. Additional PPE and PFD devices may be required whilst working onsite. Users can specify additional PPE requirements within their own designated facility.

If you are working at the facility the user who requires your services will arrange your induction. The Pass will be issued in accordance with the steps below:

• Authorised inductor from user “XYZ’’ will send you an online induction link and Facility Access Pass Issue Form (FAPIF)
• Inductee is to complete the online induction, download/print the certificate and complete the FAPIF
• Inductee provides Pass Office with paperwork and appropriate Identification.
• Pass Office issue CUF Pass

The facility operates 24/7. You can get access to the facility on evenings or weekends, but you must hold a valid CUF pass.

Users of the CUF are permitted to capture photos, recording video and operate drones within their own designated project area. It is essential to obtain approval from other users before capturing any imagery of their projects or areas.

No photography or recording is allowed of a User’s activity or Designated Facility unless permission is granted by that User.

Drones may be used at the AMC CUF.

Contact the FM O&M Department on 08 9410 5400 for site notifications.

You must follow the guidelines available in the CUF Facility Rules here. 

The Department of Defence DOES NOT permit photographs or recordings to be taken of any Department of Defence vessel.

Companies wishing to use the CUF have low set-up costs with competitive rates. Subject to availability, they can select the facilities they require and determine the duration of their use of the facilities.

The standard published schedule of rates are available on the AMC website. For more information, click the below links: 

AMC CUF Schedule of Rates
Floating dock and SPMT Schedule of Rates 

AMC CUF contractors are selected by the Facility Manger. To commence the process, the FM will request the contract to:

1. Set up a profile in “Rapid Global” and upload company insurances, HSE methodology, licenses.
2. Create a vendor profile in ARIBA and SAP (cloud-based software for procurement processes) for lodgement and processing of Orders, Invoices, Credits, etc.
3. Complete inductions and induction paperwork

Contact the FM O&M department on 08 9410 5400 for further information.