Dredging at Whanganui Port paused after barge incident

Port general manager Geoff Evans says the current dredging system is not "capable of doing everything the port needs going forward".

Dredging at the Whanganui Port has paused following an incident on the water last month. Port general manager Geoff Evans said a barge became unbalanced during an operation on November 27.

“It was filled with material and as they began to move away from the wharf, the load started to shift and it didn’t stop,” he said. “The barge tilted on its port side until it sat on the bottom of the river – about 35 degrees to the vertical.”

Evans said no one was injured and because it was close to the shore, the barge was able to be swung around and levelled using a bulldozer and a rope.

The material was then dumped back into the water, he said.

Dredging is currently carried out using a barge with a digger on it.

“There is a belief that there was greater concentration of papa [soft sedimentary rock] and because of that, there was more water in the digger bucket than normally,” Evans said.

“That meant the material could have been sloppier and created instability, but it’s still subject to the completion of an investigation.” There was currently an embargo on the barge, he said.

Improved dredging capability is part of three stages of work for Whanganui District Council’s section of Te Pūwaha – the Whanganui port revitalisation project.

Around 1000 cubic metres of concrete will soon be poured as part of stage one – a pavement hardstand and structures over the water to take Q-West Boat Builders’ 380-tonne capacity mobile boat hoist.

Last month, port chairman Mark Petersen said dredging was a big task and a hole in the training wall enclosing the port basin had “delivered us silt from up the [Whanganui] River”.

A short-term dredging consent for a channel around the wharves and another – to create a working port area – is before Horizons Regional Council.

Part of the latter includes involves a proposal to close the hole.

Evans said an alternative solution, currently under wraps, had been worked on “in parallel” with the current dredging operation and “all our emphasis is going into that”.

“There is a lot going on behind the scenes.

“This [current] dredging solution is recognised as not being capable of doing everything the port needs going forward.”

An announcement date for the new solution has yet to be revealed.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.