Growing for the future

Port of Tauranga will soon start extending the wharf at Sulphur Point at a cost of $30 million - in a move designed to handle the larger container ships.
The 600m wharf at the container terminal will be lengthened another 170m north to the edge of the reclaimed land.
Geotechnical testing is taking place and a design/build contract will be let within a few months.
The specialised construction will take 12-18 months and the wharf extension could be ready by the end of next year.
The port company has a resource consent for the expansion. It is the first quayside development for almost 20 years since the port company completed the Sulphur Point terminal in 1992.
The log berth on the Mount Maunganui side was built in 1987 and the No1 berth at the Mount for the cruise ships and chartered kiwifruit vessels was completed the following year.
Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said the wharf extension would accommodate the more frequent and longer container ships, and prepare for the next tranche of growth with increased shipping services.
"We are being pushed to handle the latest class up to the 4500 TEUs [20-foot equivalent containers]," he said.
At present, the Sulphur Point wharf can take two vessels, one carrying 4500 TEUs and the other 3000.
The expansion would enable two 4500 TEU vessels to berth at the same time, along with a coaster feeder ship. As business increases, the port company will order its sixth container crane and ancillary plant equipment such as twin-lift straddle carriers.
The fifth and biggest crane, with a reach of 48m - built by Liebherr in Ireland - was installed in the middle of 2009.
The port company will also improve productivity by retrofitting another existing crane so it can lift two containers at once - and keep ahead of its rivals.
Tauranga is the most productive port in Australia and New Zealand, and is ahead of Singapore by 14 per cent based on gross crane productivity.
Port of Tauranga's cranes averaged 35 moves an hour for the six months ending December, and the twin lifting provides the potential of 60 container moves per hour.
"That's an important productivity gain," said Mr Cairns.
In other developments, the port is sealing more log storage areas, has finished the expansion of the Sulphur Point on-wharf cold storage facility, and has bought the former Satara coolstore and 2ha of land in Totara St.
The coolstore is being leased by Seeka Kiwifruit Industries.
Port of Tauranga has also taken over the lease of a 3500sq m warehouse alongside MetroPort in Onehunga, Auckland.
In a joint venture with its subsidiaries, Tapper Transport and C3, the port company has established MetroPack, which will pack and unpack containers.
Its first customer is Carter Holt Harvey which is sending its paper products from Penrose, and sawn timber and laminated veneer lumber from Northland.
The products are packed and exported around the world through the ports of Tauranga and Auckland.
"Packing and unpacking is a profitable business," said Mr Cairns.
"We are integrating the supply chain and giving customers a greater solution."
All the latest projects are geared towards making Tauranga "the port of the future".
The port company wants to have the capacity to handle vessels carrying up to 6600 TEUs.
By then the larger container ships will be making fewer port calls but taking on more cargo.
Tauranga is planning to be one of those port calls and become a hub for the North Island.
The listed port company's board approved the latest $30 million spending on the Sulphur Point wharf extension at its meeting this week - at the same time it announced another record profit as trade volumes increased.
For the six months ending December, Port of Tauranga lifted net profit by 23 per cent to $28.4 million on revenue of 92.8 million, up 38.5 per cent.
The trade volume rose 18 per cent to 7.76 million tonnes for the first half of the latest financial year - and all areas of the port business performed.
The main cargo increases were fertiliser, up 150 per cent, stock feed supplements up 74 per cent, log exports another 15 per cent increase, and container movements rose 23 per cent to 293,840.
The railed container volumes between Tauranga and MetroPort in Auckland increased 56 per cent because of the higher proportion of import containers and six vessels were diverted from Ports of Auckland.
Ship departures increased 12 per cent compared to the previous corresponding period, and Mr Cairns said there was further development of hubbing with several international shipping lines and coastal operator Pacifica Shipping bringing containers from other New Zealand ports to Tauranga.
Port company chairman John Parker said the trading outlook was uncertain and it was difficult to accurately forecast the remaining half of this financial year.
He predicted a full-year net profit of between $53-$56 million.
Still a new record.
Last year's after-tax profit was $49.4 million, up 9.3 per cent, on revenue of $148 million and total trade volume of 13.75 million tonnes.