Work sails in for Northland marine industry

Jim Loynes client liaison and marketing manager for Oceania Marine with the cruise ship Ipipiri at the company's yard.

Whangarei's marine industry is buzzing, with repair crews working on everything from tuna boats to ferries and a multimillion-dollar yacht conversion.

A crew support ship has landed in Whangarei for a multimillion-dollar facelift as the ship repair activity for the city's ship yard continues to lift.

A total of 30, fulltime Oceania Marine staff will spend the next three months converting Ad-Vantage from a hard-working support ship into a flash yacht support vessel, to be used to carry the cars and pleasure craft of the wealthy owners.

Ad-Vantage is getting a garage on deck, a new hull extension and a crane.

Jim Loynes client liaison and marketing manager for Oceania Marine said the owner, whose identity is undisclosed, bought the ship two months ago and immediately transported it to Whangarei for its makeover.

Oceania Marine was project managing the work, with neighbouring companies chipping in to complete the job, including Ship Repair NZ, which would complete the heavy fabrication.

The Port Rd neighbour was creating the new hull, while Super Yacht Interiors was completing the interior fit-out.

"There are countless firms working on this ship - and about 100 local people employed through this project alone."

Now in the middle of the commercial season, the yard is also working on the cruise ship Ipipiri, the 44.5-metre flagship of Hauraki Blue Cruises.

The 30-cabin catamaran was launched in the Bay of Islands but moved to Auckland last year.

A Fuller's ferry is in the shed.

"We're playing musical chairs with the shed ... ships have to rotate to get in for shed work."

The $25million expansion of the Oceania Marine yard to the south yard at Port Whangarei Marine Centre, at the site of the old Tenex building, would offer some welcomed relief.

The 100-tonne Cimolai mobile boat hauler will be based at the south shipyard from October.

The first of two travelift machines had been made in Italy and was ready for shipping within the month.

The piers would arrive in late August/early September.

Meanwhile, neighbours at Ship Repair NZ are also seeing a busy season with two mammoth tuna boats from American Samoa in the yard.

One of them, Sea Encounter, is on sentry on the slipway of Ship Repair NZ, majestically casting a shadow on Port Rd while it receives general structure repairs.

It came to Whangarei in June, having also sailed in for services in 2003 and 2009.

The 81-metre giant has been joined by the ship Western Pacific. Ship Repair project manager Nick Eilering said both were privately owned and were used for fishing around the South Pacific. He said those ships had a turnaround time of four to six weeks.

Mr Eilering said the fact that contractors were getting harder to find was a positive sign in the industry.

"Things are going well."

Ship Repair was also expecting a visit from tall ship Spirit of New Zealand in mid-August when it was scheduled for structural repairs.

"Around 80 per cent of what we do is commercial and 20 per cent is white boat work, such as Ad-Vantage," he said.

Mr Eilering said the team at Oceania Marine was leading the way in Whangarei with its expansion, which would bring "more boats, and work, to the community".

"Business is really ramping up."