"The contract is a milestone for Neptune as it has been won significantly ahead of our expectations and represents the commencement of a body of income-generating work in Australasia," Neptune's executive director, Andrew Harrison, said today.
"As well as other possible marina work in the Top End, Darwin is emerging as a logistics platform for northern Australia's burgeoning offshore oil and gas projects.
"Drilling and production platforms, and the shipping service infrastructure supporting offshore petroleum operations, are a natural avenue for future Neptune contracts."
Work will include the removal of the Cullen Bay marina's lock gates and hinges, fabrication and replacement and other underwater welding work on the gate hinge infrastructure.
Neptune's underwater welding methods do not suffer the limitations of conventional underwater welds but deliver the same structural integrity as achieved with dry-land welding techniques.
The company’s technology also reduces the need to dry dock ships for some hull repairs and alleviates the needs of conventional methods such as hyperbaric welding where special dry chambers have to be built to allow welding crews to undertake repairs ‘out of water’.