Biggest ever shipment of logs leaves Northport

The logging ship SBI Maia nears capacity at Northport. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The largest ever shipment of logs and timber from New Zealand has left Northland on its way to India.

On Saturday, the logging ship SBI Maia left Northport at Marsden Pt with more than 52,000 Japanese Agricultural Standard (jasm3) logs and timber products aboard, bound for India.

Northport chief executive Jon Moore said it was believed to be the largest shipment of logs and timber products to ever leave New Zealand.

The SBI Maia is one of a new generation of ships and was on its maiden voyage. The previous record log shipment was of around 50,000 jasm3.

The ship is 199.99 metres long, with a beam of 34.3m and service speed of 13.5 knots. It is registered in Majuro, Marshall Islands, was launched in June, and delivered to its owners in September.

Northport handled 2.46 million tonnes of logs during the financial year to the end of June 2015.