JOHN ROTHWELL

Precis
Over the past two and a half decades, John Rothwell has played a major role in the development of the Australian aluminium shipbuilding industry. In 1988 he founded Austal Ships, together with four partners and the company is now the world’s leading aluminium shipyard.

Austal listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in December 1998 and have grown with shipyards in both Australia and the US employing more than 2000 people worldwide.

Background Information
John Rothwell was born in Loenen, Netherlands in 1944. His family migrated to Australia during his formative years.

In June 1999, John was awarded the “WA Citizen of the Year” in the Category of Industry and Commerce.

During 2000, he was awarded the International Business Award by the International Business Council of Western Australia.

Shipbuilding
John formed his first boat building company, “Star Boats”, in 1972. The company’s initial vessels were built in steel. Within six months John recognised the inherent advantages of aluminium boat construction and converted the company to aluminium shipbuilding methods.

By 1984, Star Boats had developed boat building operations in three Australian domestic locations, Perth - WA, Geraldton - WA and Brisbane - Queensland. The company subsequently was sold to Precision Marine in 1984 and John was invited to take up the position as Export Marketing Manager for the Precision Group.

In 1988, John Rothwell invited four former employees to join him in a new shipbuilding venture - Austal Ships. The company had a vision to build high performance, quality aluminium vessels for the emerging export market. A sale to China in 1989 saw Austal embark on an unparalleled series of repeat orders to this country, supplying catamarans at such a rate that by 1993 and the company’s fifth anniversary, Austal Ships had become the world’s leading manufacturer of 40 metre vessels and the dominant supplier to Asia.

From purpose built waterfront facilities, it was in 1994 that Austal commenced the design and construction of a range of large vehicle-passenger fast ferries. These vessels quickly attracted the attention of the world’s major operators and today Austal is one of the world’s leading suppliers of these vessels. The Austal vision has resulted in worldwide success with over 190 vessels delivered to 31 countries.