Napier Port fends off critics over use of its $175m wharf: ‘We’re not pushing the envelope early on’

The Port of Napier on Thursday, with cruise liner MS Regatta, one of three ships at berth - none of them at new wharf Te Whiti. Photo / Doug Laing

Napier Port has fended off critics who claim its Te Whiti wharf, built at a cost of $175 million to accommodate bigger vessels, is not being used for what it was designed for.

Several sources have approached Hawke’s Bay Today this week with claims that the 350-metre wharf, which was officially opened in July, has not had 300-metre-plus cruise liners this summer because new mooring technology intended to ultimately do away with mooring lines was not doing the job that was intended.

But Napier Port chief executive Todd Dawson said Te Whiti (know during construction as 6 Wharf) “is performing how we want it to and how we expected it to”.

“It’s already delivering the benefits we anticipated - unlocking congestion, reducing ship moves inside the port, and it’s reducing the time vessels are spending at anchor waiting to come in,” he said.

Dawson said it was “quite normal” for the port to use different wharves for different purposes every day according to the dynamics on the day.

“The type of ship or cargo and ship sizes calling, weather conditions, operational demands, that all plays into us deciding what to use a wharf for on a given day.”

Thus it was also “quite normal” to not use some wharves every day, he said.

“We’re using the new wharf at 80 per cent of what’s considered optimal utilisation for a wharf, which is actually a good position to be in, especially this early on,” he said.

The number of times ships have to move from berth to berth within the port has been reduced by 50 per cent since Te Whiti was opened, at which time it was highlighted that the port had previously been operating at capacity at times, with ships waiting at sea to be berthed, when other ports “typically” operated at 55 to 60 per cent berth utilisation.

“So we’re seeing greater efficiency across the whole port, more berth availability for ships, less time spent anchored waiting to come in, and more shipping options for customers,” said Dawson, who was appointed to the job in late 2017.

“We’ve been able to add two new shipping line services - a direct to China and a Transtasman - just in the past couple of months, which shows the extra capacity we now have,” he said.

He said the new mooring system was one of the most advanced in the Southern Hemisphere, and added: “We’re still learning and adapting to its capabilities, bearing in mind we did open the wharf six months ahead of schedule, and we’re not pushing the envelope on it early on because it’s doing what it’s meant to be doing.”

“There’s still a lot of capability to unlock there and we will do that,” he said. “We will use cruise on the new wharf, but at the moment it’s more efficient to use other wharves.”

A good example, he said, was when three liners were booked for simultaneous mooring in January.

“The new wharf allows us to have three cruise vessels visit and still keep other cargoes moving, which previously would have been difficult,” he said.

“Te Whiti wharf was never just about cruise or containers or big ships, and while it can accommodate all of that, it was about the overall increase in capacity it delivers across the whole port, and we are really seeing that playing out.”

He said that during commissioning, the port had undertaken additional work to improve operational parameters and the safety of people and equipment operating on the port, including adjustments to both the surface areas of the wharf in wet conditions and adjustments to the mooring systems as they gained familiarity with them.

“This is not unexpected when commissioning such a significant and new piece of infrastructure such as Te Whiti.”

The port is owned by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council on behalf of the people of the region, retaining just over half the company, which listed publicly on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in August 2019 to raise some of the capital for the wharf expansion.

On Thursday there were three ships in port, including the small cruise liner MS Regatta, and one anchored offshore, but none at the new wharf. The 290-metre Grand Princess, with a capacity of 3100 passengers and 1100 crew, is due on Friday.