Joint bid for ships’ phones

Press, 30 March 1989, Page 7

Joint bid for ships’ phones

By

DAVE WILSON

Cable Price Downer, one of the New Zealand bidders for work on the Anzac frigates project, has announced plans to join an Australian and a West German company to provide communications equipment for the 12 ships. Under the proposal, some of the specialist equipment would be manufactured in New Zealand. The company said a likely $lOO million order was indicative of the type of high-technology transfer that would benefit New Zealand manufacturing under the frigates scheme. Cable Price Downer plans to join Stanilite Pacific, Ltd, of New South Wales, and Hagenuk of the Salzgitter Group of West Germany. The managing director of C.P.D., Mr Rick Christie, said Hagenuk was a preferred supplier of external communications systems, intercoms and ships’ telephone systems to the West German shipyard, Blohm and Voss.

Cable Price Downer is the New Zealand partner with the Australian Marine Engineering Corporation, based in Victoria, which is proposing the Blohm and Voss Meko 200 frigate for the Anzac ships project. Mr Christie said Stanilite was a fast-growing electronics company with a significant Defence industry involvement in Australia and recently also in Europe. The opportunity to work with Stanilite and Hagenuk would broaden New Zealand’s markets and lead to a mutually beneficial technology transfer, he said.