Firm's expansion no fluke

The massive expansion of Toll Mermaid Logistics in Broome is not a fluke or a case of being in the right place at the right time.

TML base manager Brian "Stumpy" Philp, 63, saw it coming.

His 46 years working on and managing drill rig projects was his barometer, which is now starting to pay serious dividends to the town and its people.

Mr Philp initially managed Mermaid Marine Australia in 2000.

He worked out of a tin shed alongside the wharf silos and his only staff member was his secretary.

His big break came in October 2006 when Toll Holdings entered into a joint venture with Mermaid Marine to expand, develop and manage the Broome supply base under the banner Toll Mermaid Logistics.

Since then, his empire has exploded into a hive of activity as drilling in the oil and gas-rich Browse Basin begins to ramp-up in preparation for full-swing production.

The company now has four huge supply bases totalling more than 110sqm within close proximity of the Port of Broome jetty and employs 48 staff.

"I definitely had a vision back in 2000 it was going to be as big as it is now," he said.

"I thought it was going to be a bit quicker.

"The wheels in oil and gas sometimes turn fast but other times bureaucracy and allocations of funds move a bit slow, but where we are now is exactly where I thought we would be back then."

The rapid growth of TML has suddenly become obvious along Port Drive with row after row of heavy metal drilling pipes, bundles of huge steel chains, heavy machinery, life boats and metal buoys the size of trucks.

In fact, the only thing it does not ship out to the rigs are people.

"We move just about everything including food outwards and waste inwards," Mr Philp said.

But demand for the wide and varied payload in an industry reliant on non-stop operation puts immense pressure to get the goods delivered on time.

"It costs anywhere between $1 million to $1.2 million a day to drill offshore, so making sure the equipment goes out on time and does not miss a boat is pretty major," he said.

"If we missed a boat it is 24 hours in and 24 hours back, and they may not be able to drill for two days while waiting for a piece of equipment."

Like any good business, safety is at the forefront of operations.

And Toll Mermaid's astonishing record of days without an accident is something Mr Philp is justifiably proud of.

"We have just hit 5300 days so that is 14 1/2 years without having a lost time injury," he said.

"We are proud of that and will keep the number of zero accidents."

Mr Philp said Broome was now at the crossroads - despite a hurtfully large portion of Browse Basin business going to another State.

"The production stuff will be happening out of Darwin but as far as the exploration goes, Broome is going to be a busy hub for many years to come," he said.

"All the drilling for these fields is going to be coming through Broome - it doesn't matter if it's exploration or production drilling.

"Once it actually progresses to a production field the day-to-day stuff may come out of Darwin but there will be a lot of other stuff that will come out of Broome as well, from work boats to work boat crew changes.

"After a while you have to go back into these fields and do something known as work overs, which will put more rigs out there in the near future."

Mr Philp said he expected that "nuts and bolts" and service companies would end up constructing bases in Broome instead of trucking equipment from Perth or Darwin and that was why another industrial estate was being built in Broome.