Four staff started with Incat this week, the first of many Incat former employees to return to the fold. The company is currently recruiting tradespersons due to the increased workload associated with recent military orders.
Grant Lockhart and Brad Titmus have returned to their jobs as welders at the Incat shipyard. Both had worked for the company from 1996 until leaving as part of a redundancy program in March this year.
Grant says “I used the time away from work to catch up on a lot of work at home and I’ve been restoring an old 1963 Morris Mini and working casually as a panel beater. Despite all that time off work the Mini is still not finished, but I am really pleased to be back at Incat. The shipyard is a lot quieter without some of the old faces, but it is good to be back”.
Brad Titmus joined Incat in 1996 after leaving school. He says that, like Grant, he enjoyed working as a welder with Incat and is pleased to be back on the job. Since March Brad has built a 6.5 metre fishing boat with another former Incat employee and spent several months seeking other employment. He is now working as a welder with the pre-fabrication assembly team at the Prince of Wales Bay shipyard.
The office staff levels have also increased with this week’s starters including Rachel Lucas and Margo Young. Rachel, formerly Accounts Supervisor at Incat is working part-time to assist the accounts team and plans to return full time next year. Margo, a new recruit to Incat, is employed as accounts payable officer, but Margo is no stranger to the team at Incat having previously worked with two of Incat’s local suppliers.
Incat management has identified the need to significantly expand the workforce. Positions are becoming available across a range of trades and skill areas, with priority being given to those with relevant prior experience in aluminium ship construction.
Work is currently proceeding at the Hobart shipyard on a vessel being built for the US Navy. Other staff are employed at the yard and around the world assisting operators in maintaining the vessels in service which are located mainly in the northern hemisphere.
Incat Chairman Robert Clifford said “It is wonderful to be in a position again to increase the workforce. We are receiving calls daily from former staff who have worked elsewhere during the receivership period but who now wish to return to the Incat family.
The future for the high speed industry is exciting, especially, but not only, in the military market, Incat is seen as the world leader in high speed light ship construction and we foresee a long and prosperous future for the Tasmanian workforce”.
