$400M ship lift to be built in Darwin

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Concept image by Northern Territory Government.

The largest ship lift in Northern Australia will be built in Darwin.

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) is making an investment decision of $300 million for funding towards the East Arm Project. The Northern Territory Government will contribute the remaining $100 million to the project.

The ship lift is expected to bring $260 million into the Northern Territory economy every year and generate 400 direct and indirect ongoing jobs during operation through the expansion of the ship building and repairs and maintenance industry.

At 103 metres the lift will be capable of servicing large vessels from industries including offshore petroleum, fishing, pearling, defence and border force. There are 100 jobs expected during construction.

The $300 million NAIF loan to build the ship lift will be made to the Northern Territory Treasury Corporation.

A Northern Territory Government ship lift team is up and running with project implementation underway. The project will be overseen by the ship lift project team Executive Director who reports to the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation CEO.

A competitive construction tender process is expected to being in June this year. Construction is scheduled for 2021 and is expected to take two years.

Darwin is the only functional deep water harbour in Northern Australia. Currently large vessels travel 10 days to be serviced in another town.