Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has declared BlueScope Steel the winner of a $20 million contract to provide steel for the largest defence project in Australian history - but the gains on the ground at Port Kembla will only be minimal.Mr Rudd said BlueScope had "beaten the world" to win the contract, during a visit to the steelworks yesterday.BlueScope will now provide 3000 tonnes of steel for each of three new Hobart Class air warfare destroyers, which will cost the Government $8 billion and are a key part of the Defence White Paper revealed last week.
Wollongong student makes Kevin Rudd chuckle SLIDESHOW: Kevin Rudd visits WollongongBut, based on the fact BlueScope produces about 5.3 million tonnes of steel annually, the order could be filled in less than a day.The Australian Workers Union (AWU) said much more was needed to protect steel jobs.Mr Rudd declared yesterday a "great day for the Royal Australian Navy, it's a great day for BlueScope Steel and ... a great day for the people of the Illawarra."Steel here at Port Kembla will be fashioned into hull blocks in northern NSW, South Australia and Queensland and the final ships will be assembled in South Australia. It will support jobs in the Illawarra."The ships will be the most advanced operated by the Navy and are a part of the Government's Force 2030 plan to improve defence capabilities.Delivery of steel for the first ship - HMAS Hobart - will begin in July and the ship is expected to be commissioned in 2014.BlueScope will fill orders for the other ships - to be called Brisbane and Sydney - in 2010 and 2011, and they will be commissioned by 2017. The Mercury understands the contract involves the supply of 120 different plate sizes, with steel grades based on Lloyds Register of Shipping specifications.The new Hobart Class destroyers include more powerful engines, enhanced anti-submarine capabilities and better communications. They would "give the Royal Australian Navy a new potency in defending our nation and its northern approaches," Mr Rudd said."This project is also a chance for Australia to demonstrate our technological and ship-building capacities to the world."BlueScope Steel, an Australian company with a proud and long heritage, has beaten the world to win the contract."The deal, however, is not expected to be big enough to hasten the start-up of the steelworks blast furnace."We are grateful to win orders for our products ... but to be providing steel to such an important project for Australia is especially pleasing," a BlueScope spokesman said.In another contract announced last week, the Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance selected two companies, one based in Newcastle and the other in Cairns, to build 70 per cent of the AWD hull modules at a cost of about $450 million.Mr Rudd said the Government would continue to work with BlueScope over its concerns about the now-delayed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme."The Government has great confidence in the industry's future and in this company's future," he said. AWU national secretary Paul Howes urged the Government to create an official Australian steel procurement policy, but welcomed the BlueScope deal."This is an important first step but we have a long way to go if we are to protect steelworker jobs now facing the tsunami of the global economic crisis," Mr Howes said.
