NQEA

NQEA Pty Ltd

Founded	1948;77 years ago (1948)
Headquarters	Cairns , Australia
Services	Ship builder
Website	www.nqea.com.au

HMAS Townsville in 1990

RiverCat Shane Gould in July 2025

NQEA Pty Ltd ^[1] is an engineering and shipbuilding company based in Cairns, Australia. The company was founded in 1948 as an engineering supply company named North Queensland Engineers & Agents, then expanded in 1966 into shipbuilding and was renamed. ^[2]

NQEA has built several ships for the Royal Australian Navy (including the Fremantle-class patrol boats and Leeuwin-class survey ships). ^[3] The company was contracted to build modules to form the hulls of the Hobart-class air warfare destroyer project in May 2009, but lost the contract a month later to BAE Systems Australia after admissions that an internal restructuring may lead to difficulties meeting the contracted obligations. ^[4]

The company has also built catamaran ferries for the State Transit Authority (now operated by Sydney Ferries), London based Thames Clippers, and operators in French Polynesia and the Netherlands. ^{[5] [6]}

Ships built

• Fremantle-class patrol boats ^[3]
  • HMAS Warrnambool
  • HMAS Townsville
  • HMAS Wollongong
  • HMAS Launceston
  • HMAS Whyalla
  • HMAS Ipswich
  • HMAS Cessnock
  • HMAS Bendigo
  • HMAS Gawler
  • HMAS Geraldton
  • HMAS Dubbo
  • HMAS Geelong
  • HMAS Gladstone
  • HMAS Bunbury
• RiverCats
  • Betty Cuthbert ^[7]
  • Dawn Fraser ^[8]
  • Evonne Goolagong ^[9]
  • Marlene Mathews
  • Marjorie Jackson
  • Shane Gould
• Leeuwin-class survey ships ^[3]
  • HMAS Leeuwin
  • HMAS Melville
• Thames Clippers ferries ^[6]
  • Hurricane Clipper
  • Sun Clipper
  • Moon Clipper
• Jetcats
  • "Blue Fin"
  • "Sir David Martin"
  • "Sea Eagle"

References

1. Aimtek Pty Ltd formerly NQEA Australia Pty Ltd formerly North Queensland Engineers & Agents Pty Ltd Australian Securities & Investments Commission
2. North Queensland Engineers and Agents Pty Ltd (1948 - c. 1990) Encyclopedia of Australian Science
3. Saunders, Stephen (2005). Jane's Fighting Ships 2004-2005. Coulsdon: Jane's Information Group. pp. 30–31. ISBN   0-7106-2623-1.
4. Grevatt, Jon (30 June 2009). "NQEA loses block-building deal for Australian destroyers". Jane's Navy International. Jane's information Group.
5. "River Runner Vessels". NQEA. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
6. "Our Fleet" (PDF). Thames Clippers. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
7. Betty Cuthbert Ferries of Sydney
8. Dawn Fraser Ferries of Sydney
9. Evonne Goolagong Ferries of Sydney