Catch of the Day
WRITTEN BY Laura Watling PROJECT DIRECTED BY Steve Owen Robert Inches, CEO, PFG 2 Issue 107 · Business Enquirer Magazine
Catch of the Day
Headed up by CEO Robert Inches, PFG is a multi-sector, technology-based partner, creating durable products for use in harsh environments.
PFG’s evolution has driven industries forward.
It’s this elitetobeginningssafety-criticalreliable,missionmanufacturerTasmanian-headquarteredandboatbuilder’stocreatethetoughest,mosthighest-qualityproductsforindustries.Fromitsintheaquacultureindustry,manufacturing,workboats,andnowtacticaldefencevessels,
Born out of the requirement to produce high-performing and environment-resisting fish pens for the fledgling 1980s Tasmanian salmon industry, PFG has grown to become an award- winning business, providing turn-key solutions to every continent in the world. Its origins in Southern Ocean industries makes the company’s DNA different. From the begin ning, PFG was focussed on working closely with customers to solve gnarly problems. The com pany has always been about bespoke design, small-scale production, and uncompromising quality.
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Laura Watling discovers more.
Robert Inches, with the PFG team PFG
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PFG “In this harsh environment, you’re forced to design and build differently if you want products to with stand the elements and bring workers home safely,” said Mr Inches. “Failure is simply not an option.” In addition to its stronghold in the aquaculture and marine industries, PFG works with business es in the agriculture, civil works, and mining sec tors. Its main business here is to replace products traditionally made from steel with custom-de signed, fit-for-purpose products made from highly durable, cost-effective, polyethylene. The company is also the largest suppliers of plastic pallets, hoppers, bins and buckets in southern hemisphere, operating from sites in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia.
Swimming upstream With its first manufacturing and distribution centre established in Tasmania, an island located 240km south of Australia’s mainland, it’s no surprise that PFG is highly qualified in the aquaculture sector. During its 40-year history it has provided the in dustry with salmon pens, mooring systems and re lated on water infrastructure in Tasmania. Today, PFG is the largest supplier of aquaculture and marine industry products in Australia. Key areas include the salmon, trout, tuna, kingfish, oyster, and lobster industries. Products which PFG manufacture in this area include fish pens, nets, net weights and hooks, as well as rope, mooring systems and workboats. Thanks to its years of experience, it also has the ability to provide consultancy and advisory ser vices to investors, governments and agencies for aquaculture projects. “Our dedicated, skilled and diverse team loves a challenge;” said Mr Inches, “whether it be design ing and building the only vacuum-based, in-situ, netwasher in the world, partnering with scientists and industry to build the world’s first commercial scale rock lobster hatchery, or manufacturing an other unbreakable Aquatruck service vessel”.
Failure
Feature In this
Aerial view of a salmon fish farm Maritime harsh environment, you’re forced to design and build differently if you want products to withstand the elements and bring workers home safely. is simply not an option.
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Maritime Feature
Hamilton Jet CWF Hamilton & Co Ltd, (HamiltonJet) was formed in 1939, located at the workshop of Irishman Creek Stati on. During the early years the company pursued a po licy of planned diversification, a natural progression from the effective innovation and expertise initiated by the founder Sir William Hamilton. HamiltonJet grew out of a combination of CWF Hamil ton Engineering and CWF Hamilton Marine, the two main subsidiary companies in the Hamilton Group As the popularity of jet boats and waterjet propulsion increased rapidly throughout the 1960s and 70s, Ha milton Engineering was producing a large number of marine jet units along with its industrial equipment, cranes and hydraulics. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, New Zealand un derwent some major economic redirection and the company recognised the potential for waterjet propul sion systems. It made the decision to phase out the in dustrial side of Hamilton Engineering to concentrate on the production of waterjet units and hydraulics. For over 40 years the company has focused only on the wa terjet side of its business becoming the leading specia list waterjet and controls manufacturer in the world. HamiltonJet company offices were opened in Ameri ca, the UK and Singapore to market and coordinate the distribution and spare parts support of waterjets in those Continuedregions.growth in demand for HamiltonJet Water jets has seen numerous factory expansions in the last decade. Manufacturing floor space has increased to 17,000 square metres on the 6.88 hectare site, with new machinery installed and staff hired to increase factory capacity by more than 50%.
HamiltonJet currently has 20 different jet models st arting from 270kW up to 5,500 kw in maximum power rating and our market experience is extensive. As a preferred supplier to boat builders, naval architects and marine operators, we’ve installed over 60,000 waterjets into vessels around the globe, including offshore, pilot, rescue, fire, military, patrol, windfarm, fast ferry, fishing, aquaculture and recreational appli We’recations.willing collaborators and integrators, working in the best interests of our clients to deliver everything from standard to bespoke solutions that work for them. Our products are designed and built to the standards of the world’s leading certifying authoriti es. They’re manufactured in-house at a modern plant with cutting-edge machining facilities and extensive testing and inspection procedures. All our products are backed by class-leading after sa les support. Wherever you are in the world, you’ll find extensive parts stocking and experienced Hamilton Jet distributors supported by our own regional office staff. We also guarantee at least 20 years’ support at the end of series production. Today, HamiltonJet is still a family owned company employing over 440 staff in all aspects of waterjet design, production, sales and service and has over 55 Distributors around the world as part of the company’s global reach program. The company has also recently celebrated its 80th year Anniversary and is looking towards strong growth in the future. www.hamiltonjet.com
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A few years ago, PFG spotted a niche. In part nership with One2three naval architects, the company perfected the design and construction of incredibly durable, stable and safe work boats for harsh ocean environments, using high-den sity polyethylene (HDPE). At the same time, the boats were incredibly manoeuvrable and highly customisable. This combination of safety and performance made the vessels perfect for emergency and de fence use cases.
The business has also recently won a contract to build three 12.5 metre speciality watercraft for the New Zealand Defence force.
Plain Sailing As well as its expertise in aquaculture, PFG has capabilities in commercial marine. This includes the provision of workboats, safety gear, buoys and fenders, and anchors and shackles. Of its 40 years in business, 25 of those have been spent with a marine offering.
“HDPE outperforms alternative watercraft alloy or composite material in that it’s incredibly durable and impact-resistant, it won’t corrode or perish with exposure to salt water, UV or long storage pe riods, and it can be fixed in-situ without needing any hot works,” said Mr Inches, “It can handle sustained force, submerged obstacles, air drops and hard beaching.” In March 2022, PFG despatched three flood res cue boats for the Western Australian Depart ment of Fire and Emergency Services as part of a 10-boat contract.
A major development for PFG is its evolution into fast response vessels for the emergency services and defence market.
One of these specific needs is a more mature procurement process than other marketplaces, and an invaluable understanding of how to en gage with defence market customers.
“We have been on a campaign to break into this market for the last 3 years,” explained Mr Inches, “as part of this we established a defence capability advisory committee. This helped us to understand the needs of the sector”.
Standing Sentinel PFG unveiled its flagship vessel, the Sentinel 1100, at the Indo Pacific International Marine Exposition 2022.
“Our first vessel, a work boat built 25 years ago, is still in full commercial use on a Tasmanian fish farm,” said Mr Inches, “it still has many years of life left, but the beauty is, if the customer is ever ready to decommission it, the material can be recy cled into another project”.
Pitched at elite defence and security organ isations, the Sentinel 1100 is the pinnacle of PFG and One2three’s expertise in high-per formance, high-safety tactical vessels. It fea tures PFG’s Vigilant Safety System, which uses a combination of design factors and invigilation technology for monitoring, observation, and cloud-based data analysis. The Sentinel 1100 can be fully networked with command and control frameworks and can even be operated autono HDPEmously.absorbs noise and vibration, providing obvious benefits to both passengers and crew. “We’re passionate about showing our clients the condition and care HDPE has to offer,” Mr Inches explained, “we’ve employed technology to sup port and monitor loads that are being transferred to passengers and crew. These people are being sent out into hostile environments, so it’s our responsi bility to ensure their safety from our end”.
PFG It can handle sustained force, submerged obstacles, air drops and hard beaching “ “
Our waterjets and controls represent the pinnacle of high thrust capability, agile maneuverability and superior durability, delivering absolute confidence for wind farm support vessels the world over www.hamiltonjet.com
Sustainability at Sea “Of its many benefits, HDPE also offers a lower footprint than some traditional materials,” said Mr Inches, “it’s also fully recyclable.” In addition to PFG’s use of low carbon footprint HDPE, it also offers a rotational moulding facil ity. “This is an important offering for us, particu larly when customers request a recycled product. It means we can cater for it in house”. Mr Inches also highlights how there is opportu nity for PFG to expand its footprint in the sus tainability sphere. “An evolving market at the moment is seaweed farming. With our experience and the expertise of our R & D team, we certain ly feel we could offer innovative solutions to this growing space,” said Mr Inches.
MEETING CHALLENGETHE
PFG
Credentials It’s crucial that PFG works closely with its cli ents to produce bespoke solutions. In fact, its PFG’s mission “to drive a sustainable future by creating value for our customers through partner ships, professionalism and collaboration”
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Clients of PFG include Tassal, Steer Group, New Zealand Defence Force, and Australian Maritime Safety Authority to name just a few. In addition, it has formed partnerships with the likes of, Dainichi Corporation and One2three Naval Ar chitects.
Seaweed has many benefits to the environment, including carbon capture and the ability to re duce cattle emissions by forming part of the an imal feed.
new Sentinel 830
PFG’s craft,
in the background Mt Wellington Maritime Feature Issue 107 · Business Enquirer Magazine 9
PFG prides itself on providing technology-led innovation - this hasn’t gone unnoticed in the industry. Over the years PFG has built quite the trophy cabinet. Most recently, PFG was named Ausmarine Baird Maritime Work Boat World Best RIB Patrol Boat 2020 and Ausmarine Best Patrol Boat 2019. In addition, PFG’s support vessel and survey vessel has been named best in class. The business also holds the titles of Best Speciality Boat Build er (Ausmarine, 2014), Best Aquaculture Boat Builder (Ausmarine, 2013) and Best Speciality Boat Builder (Ausmarine 2012). An intelligent step forward As well as developing its sustainability output, the team at PFG will be investigating how to in tegrate the latest technology into its builds. This will include R & D into autonomous and artificial intelligence as well as signature management. Once again, PFG will look to utilise its existing and new partners and customers to develop this offering. “I don’t believe you can underinvest in new tech or digital 4.0,” shared Mr Inches, “I think anyone that underestimates this will find their business disrupted or displaced”.
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Maritime Feature
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