400 PILES – ALL DONE! We are thrilled to have reached a massive milestone in our 6 Wharf construction timeline with the completion of all 400 piles! These piles – each driven up to 35 metres into the underlying sandstone rock – form the basis of the foundation support for the wharf.
Our 6 Wharf contractor – HEB Construction, first started piling back in March 2020. We didn’t get too far before construction was halted for a month and a half when New Zealand went into its first Alert Level 4 lockdown. The 6 Wharf team did a fantastic job making up for lost time once the lockdown lifted and the entire project remains on track and on time.
A big thank you to our port neighbours for their patience during this part of the construction. We have worked hard to manage construction noise through hours of work and a number of other noise mitigation strategies.
Pictured above: Drone shot of piles
PROGRESS UPDATE We continue to work on 6 Wharf with appropriate health and safety protocols in place. As we reach the end of our 2021 Financial Year, here’s a quick snapshot of where things are at with some of the key activities:
DECK POURS
– 21 of 31 deck pours
DREDGING
– Almost 900,000 m3 dredged of a total of around 1.3M m3, with no exceedance of water quality limits at Pania Reef.
MOORMASTER UNITS ARRIVED
– All 10 MoorMaster vacuum-mooring units have now arrived from Italy. These advanced mooring units will increase mooring speed and berth availability, reduce time in port and improve our people’s safety.
SUBSTATION BUILD AND PAVEMENT WORKS
– Construction of the substation foundations is complete and the building is now in place being fitted out with the switchboard.- The switchboard build was completed in Hastings by local firm Kinetic Electrical and installed on site in early August. A high voltage trench through the terminal should be completed by the end of September with the substation transformer being livened in October.
– Higgins are now on site and well underway with the pavement construction required for 6 Wharf development. The landward half of this work is due to be completed in December and the space returned to Operations.
– Also, Wagstaff are undertaking ground improvement works, to control potential soil liquefaction in the event of a large earthquake. They’re using the Cutter Soil Mixing (CSM) technique, and have completed 335 of 471 panels.
OUR DREDGING PROGRAMME
Our dredging programme for 6 Wharf is progressing very well, with Stage One on track for completion in early 2022. We have recently produced a video to provide an inside look at the port’s dredging operations, how the process has evolved over time and the important work we’re doing to manage and monitor the impacts. We’re proud to share the video here below for your viewing:
Click the image above to watch on the Napier Port’s YouTube channel.
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Developed over a two-year period, in consultation with Napier Port’s many diverse stakeholders, we launched an ambitious and comprehensive sustainability strategy and action plan at the end of August (click on the image above or this link here to view the strategy in full).
Our Chief Executive Todd Dawson said implementing the sustainability strategy is a priority for the business.
“Advancing sustainability at Napier Port is embedded in our business strategy as a foundation, reflecting the importance of leaving a positive legacy for future generations, while delivering for our customers, community and wider regional economy.
“With more than 100 identified actions it will definitely challenge us, but we didn’t want to take the easy path. We wanted a strategy that will actually enable us to make a difference and one that is authentic to Napier Port and our community,” Todd Dawson said.
The strategy extends out to a 10-year time frame, setting out areas of focus and actions and identifying where further investigations, data collection and measurements are required.
We have chosen to align our sustainability strategy to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Launched in late 2015, the SDG platform is now recognised as an ideal basis upon which to build a robust and balanced Sustainability Strategy.
The World Port Sustainability Program (WPSP) encourages industry-wide action in pursuit of the SDGs. Whilst it is recognised that not every port can do everything across every SDG, we support this industry direction and have ensured our sustainability strategy addresses relevant SDGs for the regional and New Zealand context.
We are focused on what we can achieve locally to respond to global challenges like climate change, environmental issues and prosperity to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.
MARINE CULTURAL HEALTH PROGRAMME LEADS THE WAY
Our Environmental and Cultural Advisor Te Kaha Hawaikirangi (pictured above) was a keynote speaker at this year’s NZ Marine Sciences Society Conference, sharing the knowledge we’ve gained from our Marine Cultural Health Programme.
The conference is an opportunity for the marine sciences community from around the country to come together for a kōrero around new marine initiatives. This year’s theme was Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua – Looking back to move forward.
The conference also provides the opportunity for Masters students from New Zealand universities to present their research in 15-minute workshops taking place throughout the day. Te Kaha found the buzz of the conference exciting, and learned a lot from the talks on eDNA sampling and underwater ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles). “There were so many presentations to attend. It’s really helpful for us to see what’s happening in the marine space from around New Zealand,” said Te Kaha.
Te Kaha has already had people from universities and environmental groups get in touch in regards to the Marine Cultural Health Programme and said it was great that people are keen to learn about what we’re doing at Napier Port.
KEEPING UP WITH THE KORORĀ IS BACK AND NEW TECHNOLOGY ARRIVES
This month we welcomed our first Kororā eggs in the penguin sanctuary for the 2021 breeding season.
Our Port team have reactivated an unobtrusive live camera in a couple of the nesting boxes to let the public see what is happening inside. The live-stream channel – known as “Keeping Up With the Kororā”, is available on the Napier Port website here (and YouTube here and here). Click on the image below to watch now.
In other penguin news, we are in the process of installing microchip reader and logger technology onto the entrances of each nesting box in the penguin sanctuary. This will allow our team to monitor which boxes have visitors and when they head back out to sea.
All of this is valuable information that we are able to share back to Professor John Cockrem from Massey University – our kororā expert – and continue to contribute to the international body of knowledge on the species.
QUESTIONS?
If you have a question about the 6 Wharf project or something you’d like to learn more about, please drop us a line at 6wharf@napierport.co.nz.
At the United Nations summit meeting in September 2015, world leaders adopted 17 global goals (and 169 targets) as a set of universal goals that aim to address the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing our world. These are known as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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