Serco Defence brings Design, Build, Operate and Maintain expertise to region

According to Serco Defence’s Clint Thomas and Clinton Williams, international naval shipbuilding experience provides the defence prime with an understanding of future naval support operations, scale and capability that few can match.

For more than 50 years, Serco Defence has been trusted by governments around the world to deliver complex maritime project management, including design experience in all ship types, spanning new vessel design and refit modifications, Icebreaker and Southern Ocean support vessel design and operation, mariner training and simulations support services, and waterfront maintenance of over 900 ships worldwide.

Serco has been involved in every major US Navy ship programme over the past 40 years and has provided assured support to the Royal Australian Navy for the past 20 years.

Globally, one third of Serco’s revenue results from serving our defence customers, and the majority of our military support tasks are naval. Serco’s ships and designs, our people and experience play key roles in supporting the Royal Navy (RN), the United States Navy (USN), the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). This makes Serco one of the larger maritime service companies in the world, able to call upon a wide range of maritime expertise across the ‘Five Eyes’ nations.

It’s perhaps Serco’s best-kept secret, but Serco is a well-established ship builder. To its customers, “shipbuilding” means successfully bringing together a team of programme

managers, naval architects, ship builders, sub-contractors, crews and logisticians, and providing an end-toend programme to deliver a customertailored marine solution. Serco supports USN warship programmes, the RN Offshore Support Vessels (OSVs) and Tug Boats, and has designed and built the Australian Antarctic Division’s (AAD) next generation Icebreaker.

“Our ongoing work in Australia is perhaps the best example of Serco’s shipbuilding capabilities and also probably its least advertised example,” said Clint Thomas, Serco Defence Managing Director.

“For many years in North America the Serco team has worked hand-inglove with the USN, with the recent acquisition and rebranding of Serco’s ‘Marine Engineering Technology and Sustainment’ business unit. This has brought a formidable naval design house into the Serco fold; a welcome addition to our extensive USN support and maintenance capabilities,” he said.

“Likewise, Serco Canada Marine (SCM) is the Canadian arm of Serco’s ‘Global Maritime Community’ (GMC), offering comprehensive ship design and programme management services, as well as acting as Serco’s incubator for cutting-edge software and waterfront technology development.

“In Australia, we’ve delivered 17 assorted naval auxiliaries for the RAN over the last decade, alongside several dozen other smaller vessels and Ship’s Boats. The largest and latest of these is the AAD’s new icebreaker, the RSV Nuyina, the third largest ship Australia has ever owned and operated as a nation.”

To successfully deliver the Nuyina, Serco used the Dutch designer/builder Damen to build the ship in Romania and the Netherlands (due to shipyard limitations in Australia), with Serco now operating the ship using our own crew of specialist mariners. Serco’s Hobart operations team has developed a wide-ranging local Tasmanian supply chain to support the ship from its new home port, establishing a diverse industry team to deliver everything from engine spares to food at sea.

“The Nuyina programme demonstrates the efficiencies that can be made with an agile and vibrant supply chain, highlighting that shipbuilding today is primarily about effective international programme management, indicating a move from the more traditional approach of managers focusing on welding on the waterfront and forgetting the wider programme deliverables required for a truly successful outcome,” said Thomas.

To illustrate our global approach, Serco has recently responded to the New Zealand Government’s Request for Information covering the RNZN’s proposed Southern Ocean Patrol Vessel (SOPV). Within the response, Serco highlighted the advantages and potential efficiencies that the New Zealand Government could harness, should Serco’s extensive design portfolio be teamed with a shipyard in Singapore, South America or Vietnam.

As a proven shipbuilder, Serco is in a unique position globally to offer what is known as a “DBOM” approach: a holistic Design, Build, Operate and Maintain project service for our naval and commercial customers.

The Nuyina is a classic example of DBOM methodology, with Serco as the Prime contractor responsible for the delivery of a 30 year, ‘cradle to grave’ solution for the AAD. Using this model, Serco can offer the RNZN a similar DBOM package, allowing the MOD to benefit from our specialist design skills and pre-existing stable of ‘ice rated’ designs, and allow Serco’s programme management team and specialist mariner crews to facilitate a ‘one stop shop’ for the SOPV.

Serco’s ability to identify and harness extensive local supply chains for logistic and maintenance support means that New Zealand’s local industries can contribute meaningfully to the SOPV programme, offering participation and economic benefits to New Zealand.

RSV Nuyina.

Image: Serco Asia Pacific.

In drawing on our global experience, Serco understands that customers may not have the capacity for administrative oversight required to generate and support numerous onerous separate contracts with shipyards, designers, subcontractors et al: customers want a single accountable contract with a reliable prime which has the proven capacity to bring all the varied elements of a ship build programme together, within a single, warranted project package.

By deploying our unique DBOM methodology, Serco can combine efficiencies of an in-house tailored design solution and a carefully selected shipyard partner, identify sustainable shipboard systems and supply chain partners, to deliver a reliable SOPV capability throughout the life of the platform.

Additionally, Serco has extensive experience in operating ships in demanding operational environments. Serco’s UK-based operations provide an insight into many challenges marine service delivery companies face. On any given day, Serco provides waterfront and naval operations support services for the RN, as well as operating the Northern Isles Ferry Service. And while our role is obviously and prudently not that of a frontline combat capability for the UK Government, we add value to our RN customer by delivering commercial vessels and crews for support and auxiliary functions in order to release uniformed personnel for their primary missions.

Our support work for the RAN demonstrates that Serco is not scared by the size of a task: whether you need a rubber boat with an outboard engine or a company to build and operate the world’s most impressive Icebreaker, Serco can deliver.

This multi-levelled approach mirrors what we do in Canada, where Serco Canada Marine is currently partnered with Davie Shipyards to design and build the next generation of Canadian icebreakers, while offering bespoke Frigate and Offshore Support Vessel designs for a diverse foreign customer base. As part of this global customer community, Serco is investigating supporting the UK’s Fleet Solid Support ship programme, deploying the best of Serco’s global workforce to help generate the Royal Navy of the future.

Serco’s reputation for expertise and excellence in ship building is recognised around the world. As a prime, Serco has the technical ability and commercial influence to deliver the right design, the right shipyard, the right team, and the right operational model combination to deliver adaptable and efficient marine outcomes. As a trusted and proven industry partner, Serco has a keen understanding of the unrelenting pressures that challenge all governments. Serco approaches each and every programme with a commitment for quality delivery.

“Our interest in working with the RNZN on the SOPV programme stems from our belief that we can improve on the current contracting and operational delivery arrangements in New Zealand,” Clinton Williams, Serco Defence New Zealand Relationship Manager said.

“We’re not trying to sell a single product for a specific instance in time. Instead, we’re delivering exactly the operational and economic outcomes the New Zealand Government customer seeks, i.e., the best operational outcome for Aotearoa. Because we’re already working with multiple governments and can draw upon different operational models, Serco can be commercially agile and flexible to meet the unique needs of each naval or Government requirement,” he continued.

“Our intention is to bring Serco’s proven offshore expertise to New Zealand. We intend to build the sustainable local industry base critical to supporting the MoD and RNZN into the future.

“Our strong partnerships with governments in North America, Europe and Australia will allow us to support the New Zealand Government on the SOPV programme in a manner different from the competition. Serco’s understanding of future naval support operations, combined with our ongoing naval maintenance contracts, offers advantages in scale and capability that few companies can match. Likewise, the New Zealand Government is in a favourable position to capitalise on operational efficiencies for the SOPV programme by drawing upon Serco’s continuing activities to support the Australian Government’s ‘Pacific Step Up’ and the US Government’s “Pacific Pivot”.

The SOPV stands as a unique opportunity for the New Zealand Government to adopt new operational and contracting models, guaranteeing the RNZN’s ability, via the SOPV capability, to safeguard New Zealand’s maritime and Antarctic interests well into the 21st century. Serco stands ready to help.

RADM (Ret’d) Clint Thomas AM CSC joined Serco Asia Pacific as Managing Director, Defence in July 2017 following a 40-year career in Defence and the Royal Australian Navy, most recently as Commander of Joint Logistics.

Clinton Williams joined Serco Asia Pacific as Defence Relationship Manager (NZ) in June 2020 following a 19-year career in the Royal New Zealand Navy. His most recent RNZN posting was as Commander Officer Training School.