Ports of Auckland moves closer to welcoming superfreighters

By Graeme Kennedy

Friday 6th September 2002

Ports of Auckland's $200 million development to prepare for the new generation of super-freighters scheduled to join the world container trade over the next few years has passed two more important milestones.

Deepening of the inner berth at Fergusson Container Terminal from 12.2m to 13m was recently completed to allow 12.5m-draft vessels to use the facility at all tides fully loaded.

And the company has reached the pre-selection stage in the tender process for the $50 million deepening of the Rangitoto Channel commercial shipping lane and approaches to the Fergusson terminal.

Port general manager for infrastructure Ben Chrystall said five companies had been chosen and tenders would be issued in September, with the contract awarded about six months later.

The pre-selected companies are Belgian dredging firm Jan de Nul NV, a joint venture between Downer and Australian-based BallastHam Dredging, Fletcher Construction Engineering, Fulton Hogan and McConnell Dowell Constructors.

Mr Chrystall said the dredged material would be mixed with concrete to produce mudcrete and used as fill for stage one of the $100 million 10ha Fergusson Terminal extension, which would eventually increase capacity from 320,000 to 560,000 containers a year.

"Resource consents allow us to remove one million cu m of dredging but we have refined the channel design with refinements on bends and under-hull clearances and it looks as if we will remove about half that amount," he said.

"That will give us about 5ha of new space at Fergusson and the rest will be filled with maintenance dredgings and quarry rock."

Preparations for the larger vessels, which will carry 4100 TEUs (20ft equivalent units) compared with most current ships' 2200, began four years ago with the consolidation of all container handling operations into a single brand, Axis Intermodel. The port then bought two powerful tugs to handle the new-generation ships and spent $18.5 million on two 26-storey cranes which are faster and have a greater lift height than existing equipment.

The new-generation ships scheduled to call at New Zealand ports are Albatross-class vessels of which P&O Nedlloyd is building seven and Contship three, with other shipping lines including Hapag-Lloyd and Wilhelmsen Line leasing slot capacity.

Four have visited Auckland but with light loads and on high tides. The high-capacity carriers, which are the world's biggest refrigerated ships, with 1300 freezer plugs, offer improved economics in an industry working to contain spiralling costs.

P&O and Contship plan to have all 10 in service by the end of this year with a weekly fixed-day east-bound round-world service from Europe to Australia and New Zealand and through the Panama Canal to US East Coast ports.

A decision on which New Zealand ports the ships will call at will not be made until later this year although Auckland, which handles 68% of the country's imports and 33% of exports, is considered a certainty.

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