BON VOYAGE, RANGITATA

Eastland Port’s tugboat Ika Nui escorts the Rangitata out into the bay for her final voyage after carrying a total of 294 containers between Gisborne and the Port of Napier during the three -month-long coastal shipping contract put in place after the closure of State Highway 2 between Gisborne and Napier. Picture supplied

Keen to see return of coastal container shipping after successful three-month contract

The coastal container route between Eastland and Napier ports has ended after successfully operating for three months in support of local businesses impacted by the closure of State Highway 2 between Napier and Wairoa.

During the three-month charter of the ship Rangitata, funded by the Government, there were 18 voyages and 294 containers moved between the two East Coast ports.

A total of 233 containers were transported for the meat industry while 61 were for produce.

The coastal container service came with significant environmental benefits — ship freight emissions were less than 15 percent of its road freight equivalent.

Eastland Port operations manager Andy Kinsella said it had been great having containers moving through the port and knowing local businesses had not been put out of pocket by freight costs over the last two-and-a-half months while the roads were being rebuilt.

“Unfortunately, this shipping service has come to an end for now, with State Highway 2 reopening. However, I am certain coastal container shipping will return in the future once we complete our $60 million rebuild of Wharf 7 and the Twin Berth Project,” he said.

“Wharf 7 has been built to withstand a one-in-2500-year earthquake so it is going to be a strong and reliable asset.

“It’s comforting to know we have all the gear and processes in place and on hand to get a service up and running instantly should our region get cut off from another catastrophic weather event.”

Mr Kinsella said it had been a team effort to operate the container ship into Gisborne.

“After hearing about the state of our roads two days after the cyclone hit we came up with the idea of utilising ‘the Blue Highway’ through a coastal container service, so we started to collate information and got in touch with potential interested businesses,” he said.

“Financially we wouldn’t have been able to get the service up and running without the support from the Government.”

​The support was by way of a $500,000 grant to get the necessary infrastructure in place and a $2.25 million underwrite to Eastland Port for the charter of the Rangitata for three months.

On March 17, one day after Prime Minister Chris Hipkins made the announcement, the first  container was loaded on to the Rangitata and she set sail for Eastland Port.

“I’ll be the first to admit we were a little out of our depth given we stood the service up in a matter of weeks, but were grateful to the New Zealand port community who came to our aid with equipment which helped us get on our feet before ours arrived,” Mr Kinsella said.

“We eventually got into a groove, as did our customers, and it worked really well.

“I want to express my heartfelt thanks to our Eastland Port team, Coastal Bulk Shipping, the Government, our customers and individuals who have been an integral part of this chapter in our port’s history.

“We have learnt a huge amount through this all and as we look into the future we are confident in our ability to adapt, innovate and create a robust service which supports our local community.”