Massive wind turbine parts unloaded from Napier Port bound for Manawatū wind farm

Napier Port has had a busy few days, unloading and trucking 16 turbines down to Mercury Energy's new wind farm in Manawatū.

This is the first of what is likely to be four shipments of similar size as a total of 60 turbines are erected on the hills at Turitea in Manawatū.

When completed, it will form New Zealand's largest wind farm by output at 222MW, producing 840GWh annually (enough to power 375,000 electric vehicles).

AAL Shanghai unloads wind turbine columns at Port of Napier. Photo / Warren Buckland

The ship is carrying 32 tower sections, 16 nacelles (casings), 16 drivetrains and 16 hubs, plus associated accessory parts – everything you need to construct 16 wind turbines (apart from the blades and a lot of concrete).

The blades were shipped to Port Taranaki.

The heavy equipment was unloaded by crane with specialised heavy haulage rigs, before being moved to Onekawa where they will be stored before being transported to Manawatū later this autumn.

Crews work to load the tower pieces on a truck. Photo / Warren Buckland

SSA New Zealand, formerly known as Southern Cross Stevedores, is moving the massive cargo and Gareth Jones was the one making sure it all ran smoothly.

Jones said cargo of that size took a lot of co-ordination with the NZ Transport Agency just to be able to get the trucks on the road.

The ship is carrying 32 tower sections, 16 nacelles (casings), 16 drivetrains and 16 hubs, plus associated accessory parts - everything you need to construct 16 wind turbines. Photo / Warren Buckland

But as long as everything is safe and runs smoothly, it was a great opportunity for them to enjoy moving the big parts, Jones said.

"It's always good to have fun on jobs like these because it's something different and interesting that we don't often do."

A 46m truck and trailer makes its way around Prebensen Drive roundabout carrying a wind turbine column. Photo / Warren Buckland