Napier Port offers limited series of public bus tours

Napier Port is to offer members of the public a limited series of port tours.

For two days only, Napier Port is offering “Behind The Gates Tours” – a public tour for members of the community.

Members of the public who pick up a ticket will get an exclusive, behind-the-gates look inside the busy port.

Tour-goers will see almost everything, from the six wharves, including the new 350m Te Whiti Wharf capable of hosting the world’s largest cruise ships, to mobile harbour cranes, the heavy plant fleet, three tugs and log debarkers. The tour will also visit the container terminal, warehousing, bulk cargo operations and see the port staff in action.

Chief operating officer at Napier Port, Adam Harvey, said: “It’s a rare opportunity to get up close and see first-hand the role we play in connecting our customers and community to the world.”

Napier Port to use Hawke’s Bay Express road train for limited series of port tours. Photo / Warren Buckland

At $5 a ticket, Napier Port is using local tour operator Hawke’s Bay Express, a modern road train that looks like an old-fashioned steam engine.

All proceeds from the tours will be donated to one of the port’s sponsorship partnerships, Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawke’s Bay – a youth mentoring programme dedicated to matching young people with supportive adult role models.

Limited to six tours across two days (3 each day), each tour on the Hawke’s Bay Express is able to fit 46 people per tour and is open to all ages.

This is the first time Napier Port has hosted public bus tours and the team is excited to see how the limited run goes.

Harvey said the port will look to add more tours or run it again this year if it’s popular.

He added: “We will also operate a waiting list if tickets sell out and demand is really strong, and will try and make these tours an annual event.”

The new tours come five years after Napier Port was publicly listed on the New Zealand Exchange (NZX), on August 20, 2019.

The port wanted to involve the community in the upcoming anniversary milestone, particularly as many people in Hawke’s Bay became/still are direct shareholders in Napier Port.

Harvey said his team sees the port as a great way to foster a strong connection with the local community and provide a unique insight into port operations.

The tours offer a look at the port’s infrastructure and daily activities, helping the community understand how the port functions, sharing its commitment to safety and environmental stewardship, and highlighting Napier Port’s importance to the regional economy.

“Over the last five years, Napier Port has been pivotal in helping our region recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic and Cyclone Gabrielle while also fostering global trade,” Harvey said.

In opening up the port to locals, Harvey hopes it will help the community see the efforts that he said: “have bolstered our regional economy by keeping cargo flowing, creating jobs and supporting local businesses”.

For more information on tickets and dates, visit the Napier Port website.

Maddisyn Jeffares became the editor of the Hawke’s Bay community papers Hastings Leader and Napier Courier in 2023 after writing at the Hastings Leader for almost a year. She has been a reporter with NZME for almost three years and has a strong focus on what’s going on in communities, good and bad, big and small. Email news tips to her at: maddisyn.jeffares@nzme.co.nz