Tassie pitch for UK defence contract

Australian export case study

Tasmanian business Liferaft Systems Australia (LSA) last year secured $10 million in exports to various passenger ferry operators and navies around the world and are on track to secure a $6 million deal with the UK Ministry of Defence.

LSA designs and manufactures marine evacuation systems and large-capacity liferafts for all types of passenger vessels, including conventional ferries, high-speed craft, cruise ships and the military.

Managing Director Mike Grainger said the business exports to more than 40 markets around the world and past clients have included:

the United States, French, Australian, Dutch and New Zealand navies
the United States Army
numerous private ferry and shipping operators.

“Liferaft Systems Australia is recognised as one of the leading manufacturer of marine evacuation systems in the world,” Mr Grainger said.

“Our most successful markets are currently North America, Canada and Northern Europe.

“We recently supplied our systems to Canadian ferry operator BC Ferries in a deal worth $4.5 million dollars.

“We are also in the final stages of negotiation to supply our systems to the UK Ministry of Defence in a contract which will total approximately $6 million dollars.

“We originally started the company almost 16 years ago to primarily be a low-volume, high-quality exporter of marine evacuation systems and have been achieving this goal for many years now, with direct exports making up more than 90 per cent of our business annually.”

This breadth of experience over time and the innovative approach to their business and exporting also contributed to Liferaft Systems Australia winning the Small to Medium Manufacturer category at last year’s Australian Export Awards.

“Winning both the Tasmanian and Australian export awards was one of our proudest moments.

“It provided recognition to our loyal and hardworking employees whilst also exposing LSA to new markets,” Mr Grainger said.

He said Liferaft Systems Australia has also benefited from the Australian Government’s Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) scheme, administered by Austrade.

“The EMDG scheme was instrumental in our early success.

“It allowed us to pursue new and existing markets in a professional and aggressive manner which otherwise may have proven unaffordable to an emerging export company.”

For more information on:
Austrade services generally: www.austrade.gov.au or 13 28 78
the Australian Export Awards: www.exportawards.gov.au or 1300 88 19 20
the EMDG scheme: www.austrade.gov.au/emdg or 13 28 78.

Company information
Mike Grainger
Managing Director
Liferaft Systems Australia
5 Sunmont Street, Derwent Park, TASMANIA, 7009
Tel: +61 3 6273 9277
Email: info@LSAMES.com
Website: www.liferaftsystems.com.au

April 2008
www.austrade.gov.au/mediacentre

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