Haul-out, hard-stand under way

The orange line superimposed over this image of Marsden Cove marina roughly shows the route from the boat haul-out facility, next to the retail complex, to the boat maintenance hard-stand.

Work has begun on a new boat haul-out and hard-stand facility near the Marsden Cove marina complex.

The Marsden Maritime Holdings project will establish an "innovative" boat haul-out facility at Marsden Cove capable of servicing vessels weighing up to 80 tonnes.

Project manager Ben Sweeny says some aspects of the $5million project are still being finalised but preparation work began on the facility last month with the boat ramp construction starting in early January.

The project includes the establishment of a boat haul-out ramp located next to the retail complex in Rauiri Drive, a roadway across Rauiri Drive and through an existing 8m high bund wall to a hard-stand site set behind the bund wall west of Marsden Bay Drive.

Plans for the access route (shown in orange above) from the marina ramp to the hard stand include an extension of the existing bund wall on both sides of the haul road route to the 1ha boat maintenance yard.

An additional access road to the yard will be established from Marsden Bay Drive. The yard will include washdown areas, sand filter and treatment ponds.

Mr Sweeny says the 1ha site is a starting point for the maintenance facility which has been designed to accommodate future expansion.

The Roodberg slipway trailer, being constructed in the Netherlands, is designed to accommodate various vessel sizes and weights and get them in and out of the water and to a storage/workspace.

The facility is expected to be operational by mid-2017 and bring jobs to the area once businesses related to boat servicing choose to locate nearby.

This facility will be unique in that most boat yards in New Zealand are constrained for land whereas MMH has vast land holdings in the area and can expand and accommodate significant expansion in the years to come.

Marsden Maritime Holdings recorded a net surplus of just over $12 million in the year ended June 30, 2016, which included a revaluation gain of $3.2m from its investment property holdings.

Underlying earnings were $8.4m, an 8.7 per cent rise from the previous financial year, according to its 2016 annual report.

The strongest financial contribution to the business came from MMH's investment in Northport which it co-owns with the Port of Tauranga (50 per cent each).

Overall cargo through the port was just under 3.4 million tonnes, including log exports of 2.67 million tonnes, both records for the port facility.

Non-log volumes of 726,000 tonnes were slightly ahead of that handled last year.

During the previous financial year MMH built a 4200sq m warehouse on its industrial estate next to the port which has been let long term to a major international conglomerate.

Construction has also started on a new factory premises for an Auckland-based plastics manufacturer.

- MMH was established in 1988 as Northland Port Corporation and is owned by Northland Regional Council (53.61 per cent); Ports of Auckland (19.9 per cent); individual and institutional investors (26.49 per cent).