A crucial point in Port of Tauranga's bid to deepen harbour shipping channels has begun with an Environment Court battle between the port and three iwi groups.
The three-week hearing between appellants Ngai Te Rangi, Nga Potiki and Ngati Ruahine and the port is taking place at Mount Maunganui's Oceanside Resort
and Twin Towers, in a showdown that port chief executive Mark Cairns has described as "critical to the future of the port and importers and exporters".
The three appeals are lodged against Port of Tauranga's resource consent application to deepen the main shipping channels and the entrance of Tauranga Harbour by dredging and removing material from the coastal marine area. The dredging, which is expected to cost about $50 million and would span several years, would eventually allow the port to receive larger container ships.
The port proposed to deepen the channels from 12.9m to 16m inside the harbour entrance, and from 14.1m to 17.4m in the entrance channel.
About 15 million cu m of sand, sediment, rocks and shells would be removed from Tanea Shelf, alongside Mauao and deposited out to sea between the Mount beach and Motiti Island. About two million cu m of it might be used as fill for the Tauranga Eastern Link expressway.
Two judges and two Environment Court commissioners are first hearing the port's evidence, which will be followed by evidence from the regional council defending its decision to grant the port resource consent
Bay of Plenty Regional Council senior consents officer Reuben Fraser could not say when a ruling was expected to be made.
The hearing comes after the New Zealand Shippers Council, representing companies shipping more than half the nation's cargo exports, backed the port as the best investment to receive container ships currently too big to dock anywhere in the country.
