December 2009 Editorial 2 • The year in review Port News 3 • New harbourmaster craft SupPORT our Region 4 • Best ever Masked Parade Port Progress 5 • Given the Slip Around the Port 6/7 • Choppers land at port • Worth a thousand words Our Port Our People 8 • First Line Management Success Safe Harbour 9 • Light on Haulashore Meet the Client 10 • Reliance Engineering Environment Update 11 • Noise monitor installed Looking Back 12 • Boulder Bank book launched HMNZS Pukaki Makes First Ever Visit To Nelson The third of the New Zealand Navy’s new Inshore Patrol Vessels, HMNZS Pukaki, under the Command of Lieutenant John McQueen, conducted a very special first ever visit to her homeport region. Pukaki is the first naval vessel to be affiliated to the top of the south, and was greeted with a powhiri when she arrived at Port Nelson on 15 October. During the historic visit the Pukaki was involved in a Charter Parade, the ship was open to the public, and hosted tours ranging from schools to potential recruits. The Navy Band was in Nelson for the visit and led the Port Nelson Masked Parade as well as performing in a number of venues around the district. HMNZS Pukaki is a 340 tonne, 55 metre vessel with a core crew of 20. It is capable of travelling 3000 nautical miles (5556 kilometres) with a top speed of 25 knots, and carries out tasks for Customs and the Ministry of Fisheries. rePORT Photo: Chris Weissenborn
Transcript
D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 9
Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2• The year in review
Port News . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3• New harbourmaster craft
SupPORT our Region . . . 4• Best ever Masked Parade
Port Progress . . . . . . . . . . 5• Given the Slip
Around the Port . . . . . 6/7• Choppers land at port• Worth a thousand words
Our Port Our People . . . 8• First Line Management Success
Looking Back . . . . . . . . . 12• Boulder Bank book launched
HMNzS Pukaki Makes First Ever Visit To Nelson
The third of the New Zealand Navy’s new Inshore Patrol Vessels, HMNZS Pukaki, under the Command of Lieutenant John McQueen, conducted a very special first ever visit to her homeport region. Pukaki is the first naval vessel to be affiliated to the top of the south, and was greeted with a powhiri when she arrived at Port Nelson on 15 October.
During the historic visit the Pukaki was involved in a Charter Parade, the ship was open to the public, and hosted tours ranging from schools to potential recruits. The Navy Band was in Nelson for the visit and led the Port Nelson Masked Parade as well as performing in a number of venues around the district.
HMNZS Pukaki is a 340 tonne, 55 metre vessel with a core crew of 20. It is capable of travelling 3000 nautical miles (5556 kilometres) with a top speed of 25 knots, and carries out tasks for Customs and the Ministry of Fisheries.
rePORT
Photo: Chris Weissenborn
The year in review
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 2
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Port Nelson Limited • 10 Low Street, Port Nelson • PO Box 844, Nelson, New Zealand Tel +64 3 548 2099 • Fax +64 3 546 9015 • www.portnelson.co.nz
RePort Nelson is a triennial publication produced for Port Nelson Limited by: • Nelson Media Agency - www.nelsonmedia.co.nz • SeeReed Visual Communication - www.seereed.co.nz
Photography: Troy Dando, Roy Skucek, Jacquetta Bell
At the port company presentation to stakeholders at the end of
September, Chairman Nick Patterson summed up the 2008 - 2009
year and expressed his concerns about the impact of compliance
costs on the results.
Port Nelson Limited paid a dividend of $4m to its shareholders,
the Tasman District and Nelson City Councils for the 2008-09 year.
However, the after-tax profit would have been higher, but for the
steep compliance costs the port faces in dealing with the effects of
noise on port hills’ residents.
The terms of the Noise Variation set by the Environment Court
require us to meet the costs of full or partial noise insulation
treatment for up to eleven homes near the port, and to buy the
most affected homes if the owners decline mitigation treatment.
This cost $1.4m over the past year and reduced the operating
surplus to $4.9m after tax.
Ongoing expenses we face in relation to noise mitigation work
in the coming years will continue to impact on our result and
the return to our shareholders. While we fully understand our
obligations in this area and are committed to meeting them, the
increased compliance costs that organisations such as ours have to
meet are a major concern.
Overall it was a satisfying result for the year with total cargo at
2.755 million tonnes, boosted by log exports to China and increased
imports of fuel and empty containers.
The trend towards containerisation of processed wood products
continued and the port exceeded 80,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent
container Units (TEU) for the first time.
The global recession reduced calls from vessels carrying motor
vehicles and steel, and while there were limited changes to the liner
shipping services using the port over the last 12 months we may
face further changes in future.
It is likely Port Nelson and most other ports will continue to see
decisions made by both shipping lines and major exporters that
will have an effect on shipping services around the New Zealand
coast. While such changes are inevitable, they do mean we are
operating in a very tight market and they make further investment
in infrastructure a very uncertain science.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank port customers and
staff for their support throughout the year. I wish you all a safe and
relaxing holiday season with time to enjoy our region in summer
with friends and family.
Nick Patterson
Chairman, Port Nelson Ltd
Briefing the Stakeholders
It was a wild and wet day at the end of September when we invited 200 stakeholders to attend a briefing on our Annual Report at the Nelson Yacht Club. After an introduction from Chairman Nick Patterson, Martin Byrne gave a comprehensive presentation that put the year’s result and the current port operation into a wider context of the global recession and trends in the shipping industry. Guests stayed on to enjoy refreshments and the opportunity to catch up with others in the industry.
Pictured from left: PNL Chairman Nick Patterson, John McLiskie, Heartland Fruit, and Kay McNabb, Nelson Airport. Next photo: Paul Salvador and Tony Pratt from Westpac with PNL board member Bronwyn Monopoli.
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 3
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sSafe on the Water
Nelson harbour will be a safer place this summer with the new harbourmaster boat Punawai patrolling the bay. Port Nelson carries out this role for the Nelson City Council, and Marine Operations Manager Roy Skucek says the main focus is on education for boaties, backed up with infringement notices.
Last year the patrols were done in the pilot launch, but this year there will be a higher profile with the new boat bought from funds set aside from pilot exemption certificates. Roy Skucek says the Stabicraft was selected for the job as the most suitable. It is fitted out with VHF radios and is powered by two Mercury 150hp engines.
Punawai means spring water, and was the name of the old pa site at the bottom of Richardson Street. It is estimated the Punawai will be used for up to 300 hours each year, mainly in Nelson Harbour, the Blind Channel, Monaco and up to two miles offshore. It will also support Coastguard, Police, Fire Service, NZ MAF, Customs and DOC. The Punawai will be staffed by our new deputy harbourmaster once that position is filled.
Roy Skucek speaks at the naming ceremony on November 11, attended by iwi representatives, port staff, Mayor Kerry Marshall and Arch Deacon Harvey Ruru who blessed the craft.
Port New zealandPort Nelson Ltd is part of a new initiative called Green Port for Black
Boats, being developed to create an eco-friendly environment for
servicing commercial vessels from around New Zealand and further
offshore. These are ‘black boats’ in the industry, while ‘white boats’
are pleasure craft. The aim is to attract boat building, research and
development, aquaculture industries, water remediation and skills
training for the oil and gas industry. The theme of sustainability
will govern how the growth takes place and what industries can
participate.
We have formed a marketing consortium with selected local
companies to begin building the brand around this green port
initiative. This consortium is called Port New
Zealand Ltd, and the initial participants are
Challenge New Zealand, Kernohan Engineering,
Port Nelson Ltd and Unimar. This brings
together our own capabilities, such as the layup
berths and the tugs, with the facilities and skills
of these engineering companies.
The port’s central location within New Zealand,
our climate, marine and industrial services, new
facilities and skilled personnel for repairs, refits,
demobilisation and upgrades are part of the
reason we chose Port New Zealand as the brand
to market this regional initiative offshore.
Management ReviewPort Nelson Ltd has carried out a review to ensure we have the right
structure in place to meet the challenges we face in the port industry.
Marine Operations has now become part of the Port Logistics team
and falls under the overall responsibility of Digby Kynaston as
Port Logistics Manager. This change fits firmly in line with our aim
to create a port wide operational division including Stevedoring,
Cargo Logistics, and Marine Operations.
The other major change was the decision to re-allocate a number
of key responsibilities around customer liaison and marketing.
Contract negotiations with shipping lines are now handled by
the Port Logistics Manager in conjunction with the
CEO Martin Byrne. Business development initiatives
are handled by the Chief Commercial Officer Parke
Pittar, again in conjunction with the CEO. We will be
appointing a Marketing Representative to service
the importers and exporters of the region and to
further expand our presence with someone ‘out in
the field’.
The executive team is now made up of Martin Byrne,
CEO; Melisa Kappely, Employee Relations Manager;
Digby Kynaston, Port Logistics Manager; Matt
McDonald, Infrastructure Manager; and Parke Pittar,
Chief Commercial Officer.
Charity GolfIt was a big day out for colleagues in our industry when we played our annual Nelson Port and Transport Industry Charity Golf Tournament on November 19 at the Nelson Golf Club. There was a great turnout from shipping lines, agents, stevedores, logistics and transport sectors; some great golf was played and the 19th hole was particularly convivial! It is the second year that the Port Nelson Mission to Seafarers has been the selected charity to benefit from this event. The money raised this year will go in the bank, added to the $12,000 the tournament raised last year. This gives the Mission a tidy capital sum that is generating enough interest to cover everyday running costs. Manager, Milo Coldren and his team of volunteers have made the Nelson Mission one of the best in the world, with free coffee, biscuits and internet access. Over the last five years these tournaments have raised in excess of $42,000 for local charities.
Jazz in the ParksIt’s summer and that means it’s time for the Woollaston Nelson Jazz & Blues Festival – or it will be, come the New Year. We are pleased to be backing Port Nelson Jazz & Blues in the Parks, with a regional spread from Fairfield Park to the Village Green in Takaka. Expect to see some hot acts in these concerts, with some of the foremost musicians in their fields from New Zealand, the States and the UK.
In the WoodsWe were pleased to assist with support of the annual Forest & Wood Conference, held this year in Nelson at Seifrieds Vineyards. It was an opportunity for our staff to catch up with many of the movers and shakers in the industry from around New Zealand and even further afield. As nearly half of our total cargo tonnage is forestry product, this sector is extremely important to Port Nelson now and into the future, and it was very encouraging to see the conference reflecting increasing co-ordination across the sector in both processing and forestry. The focus was on global trends, the current trading environment and the challenges and opportunities this presents. There was also a field day of visits to Nelson forests and tours, including four buses of visitors to Port Nelson.
Rags to RichesUpper Moutere’s Sunrise Cleaning Services won the Port Nelson Large Business Award and the Westpac Supreme Award at this year’s Westpac Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce Awards. Bruce Farley and his wife Phillipa Rutherford are joint owners of Sunrise Cleaning Services and of the Chandrakirti Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre in Upper Moutere. Sunrise Cleaning is a rags-to-riches story, with Bruce having gone from being a one man business with his home vacuum cleaner, to employing 110 staff and servicing 80 commercial clients including many of the region's largest companies. The awards are the biggest event in the region's business calendar and provide a real incentive for business excellence from the emerging level upwards.
Rod Fox and Dot Kettle from the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce flank Phillipa Rutherford and Bruce Farley from Sunrise Cleaning and Digby Kynaston representing Port Nelson.
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The Port Nelson Masked Parade that launched the Nelson Arts Festival in October was a triumph of creativity and optimism, forging ahead amidst wet weather into a sunny evening where Nelson was at its best – children shone, music played and people danced in the street. The parade this year was a tribute to its founder Kim Merry, who died in August. Festival creative director Annabel Norman said the parade was a fitting commemoration to Kim and the value he placed on the community celebrating together. “Thanks to the support of Port Nelson Limited, and the schools and other groups who put in so much effort it was a wonderful tribute and showed the special legacy Kim has left us: Nelson has an event with a unique spirit – something money just can’t buy.” Record crowds attended the parade and stayed on afterwards to dance in the streets at the carnivale.
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 4
Safety and Training Officer Jim Lane speaks to the conference delgates as they visit our timber storage and packing area.
Photo: Harold Mason
Darryl Hamilton takes a drive for the Hamburg Sud team, watched by Simon Edwards, Peter Anderson and Matthew Hewitt.
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Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 5
Slicing Through the MudHave you ever tried one of those fairground games where you have to land a suspended hoop onto a narrow-topped block? The problem is that the hoop is bumped sideways by the block and swings off to the side. Something similar happens when the suction bucket on the dredge Kawatiri strikes a pinnacle on the harbour floor. We are about to trial a mud slicer to deal to the pinnacle problem, that is a modified design of a similar device used at the Port of Lyttelton. The eight metre wide steel blade of the mud slicer is designed to knock off the pinnacles that are left after dredging. We will suspend it underneath the tug Huria Matenga and accurately adjust the height of the device to slice into the mud pinnacles, pushing the mud into nearby deeper water, until we achieve the desired depth.It will be used a couple of days at a time, and may only need to be called out twice a year after dredging.
Paving the WayWe have just embarked on strengthening and resurfacing 5,100sq metres of the Container Yard, near Shed #3. The is the fourth year we have tackled this staged upgrade, giving us a durable surface for heavy duty machinery. The half million dollar project involves digging down to 600mm, replacing the excavated material mixed with cement, and resurfacing with a polymer modified flexible asphalt.
No Luffing MatterA head for heights was needed by the team from our workshop when they tackled the task of replacing the luffing cylinder on one of the Liebherr cranes. There had been some concern from the Austrian suppliers about the integrity of this part, and several have been replaced around the world. The luffing cylinder is the hydraulic arm that picks up the boom. It weighs six tonnes, and is 20 metres off the ground. The trickiest part of the job was getting the old hinge pin out, which was achieved by lancing it with gas to melt the steel then pressing the pin out. It was a six day job, but the new cylinder went in without a hitch and the crane was ready for action before the next ship arrived.
Given the SlipOur two tugs WH Parr and Huria Matenga were put on the slip in September for their survey inspection and Safe Ship Management Certificate renewal. The weather behaved while staff and contractors spent several feverish days blasting, painting and carrying out repairs on both vessels. The tugs’ hulls were cleaned and painted, their propellers were removed so they could be cleaned and balanced, various other work was done, then there was an inspection that covered everything from fire fighting equipment to navigation lights. The two tugs were slipped one at a time and Centre Port’s tug Ngahue came over from Wellington to cover our shipping work.
While our tugs have propellers at the back, the Ngahue pulls from the stern, with all the manoeuvres in reverse, in a system called indirect towing.
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Disaster Recovery If we had a fire in our server room, a leaky pipe or a malicious break-in, our business would grind to a halt and our ICT systems could be out of action for weeks. To avoid this we now have an offsite Disaster Recovery Centre, where core applications such as email and the operating application, Jade, will have a near-live copy running at the Gen-i office in Waimea Road to keep us operational. Senior Business Analyst Hugh Stark says if a disaster happened the wireless network switches would interrupt the current network and re-point everything up to Gen-i, where a copy of our server can be running within seconds. The plan is to add the other major systems that cover payroll, financials and so on to the server at the Disaster Recovery Centre.
Hugh Stark and Gen-I Senior Systems Engineer Carl Snelgrove with the Port Nelson server in Gen-i’s windowless, double-skin concrete Disaster Recovery Centre. The silver box is the new server, while the black box above it is the tape copy system.
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HMNZS Manawanui visited Port Nelson in September after completing navigation training in the Marlborough Sounds. The training was part of the ship’s build up towards Electronic Chart Accreditation. Manawanui arrived in Nelson via French Pass, a first for many onboard including the Lieutenant Commander Phil Rowe, who says there was some tight timing involved. “French Pass is infamous throughout New Zealand and can be a treacherous piece of water with tidal streams of up to 8 knots, timing is crucial and there is only a 10-15 minute window to pass through,” he said. “Everyone, including myself was on tenterhooks but our planning paid off and we transited with ease.”During the visit to Nelson Manawanui hosted a visit from the local Sea Cadet Unit, TS Talisman. Fourteen cadets visited the ship and were given a tour and afternoon tea.
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 6
Helicopters usually land from the air – but in early November six Sea Sprites landed at Port Nelson from the Tasman Chief. The older style choppers were quickly lifted for a road trip to Woodbourne Air Base, where they will be used for ground crew training. They had been customs cleared in Auckland, but had a brief MAF inspection in Nelson just like any other used vehicle, and will be fully cleared by MAF once they are unwrapped in Blenheim. The unloading involved Smith Cranes and DHL who handled the logistics.
Chopper LandingPhoto: Mark Harrison and Jaimie Baird
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 7
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Major Jade upgrade We expect to save an hour and half every day in staff time with our move to the latest Jade cargo control software. Currently three moves have to be logged in for a container that comes into the port full, comes back empty and is refilled. The new system reduces this to just one event and saves a lot of data entry time.
Cap Capricorn in the CutThe Cap Capricorn made her first entrance through the Cut, back in mid-August. She is now a regular caller as the shipping line Hamburg Sud’s contribution to the North Asia Vessel Sharing Agreement that replaced the COSCO service to Nelson. The other vessels on this service are NYK line’s ACX Diamond and MOL’s JPO Leo. These are all in excess of 220m and are among the largest ships calling at Port Nelson.
They’re energisedA cold, wet tent shared with nine others, early morning PT and a swim in the Sounds did nothing to deter the latest staff members we sent on the Outward Bound eight day Navigators’ Course. Stevedore Nick Brinsley says if he saw the details in a holiday brochure, he wouldn’t book the holiday, but he came back fully energised.
“Rather than just having my batteries recharged it was more like a new set of much higher tech batteries,” he says. “I also returned feeling wiser and richer and I have some new goals to focus on.”
A few weeks later Hayden Grainger from Cargo Operations was off on the same course. He says he was surprised to find fitness was not the challenge – it was more the intense personal development.
“In the group situation and as an individual they really challenge you,” he says. “I think I came out of it with a much better under-standing of myself and a better understanding of other people and the differences we all have.”
Every year we send two staff members to attend this course, which focuses on the core skills to lead a team effectively.
Worth a Thousand Words
Every picture tells a story and this one more than most. The young girls are in rowing club chase boats, and had been doing their usual practice when they found a stranded dusky dolphin on the sand bar near the Boulder Bank baches. The Tasman District Council Harbour-master called Port Nelson and the pilot boat was used to take DOC staff out to assist. The ranger with the rifle is explaining to the girls that it was too late to save the dolphin.
Nick is third from right, facing the camera with both thumbs up.
Staff Briefs• In July we marked the end of an era with a farewell morning
tea for Tony Graham and Neville Clark who have held the watchman-security role since the days the Port Nelson flag was raised at the start of each working day.
• Congratulations and best wishes to Tina Rajino on her marriage to Andrew Maxwell in late July. Tina and Andrew tied the knot in Fiji and to celebrate staff enjoyed a girl’s night out at The Free House prior to Tina’s big day.
• Marine Operations Manager and Harbourmaster Roy Skucek will be leaving us in January. Roy took over from long-serving Harbourmaster Captain John Westbrooke in 2006 and says while his three years with PNL have been challenging, it has also been interesting being involved in changes at the port.
• We farewelled Chris Williams at the end of September. Chris had been with us as Marketing Manager since 2004 and worked hard to maintain shipping options for our clients in times of major change from the lines servicing regional ports.
Going ‘back to school’ may have been a little daunting at first, but QuayPack Supervisor Andy Farmer and Security Gate Operator Kamelia Chapman did well and finished up pleased with the outcome of their nine month course of study at NMIT for the National Certificate in First Line Management. Most of the study for the nine modules was done online, and topics ranged from business writing to time management. Kamelia says she found the time management skills useful in fitting in her work on the course: “Writing things down and planning ahead were also useful recently to get everything done when I stood in for Security Supervisor Bill Homan while he was overseas.”Andy says the team building and conflict resolution skills have already come in handy: “It’s good to nip any conflict in the bud – turning a blind eye certainly won’t help it to get any better,” he says. Andy and Kamelia are both keen to take their study further.
QuayPack Goes Calling
When you spend your days packing MDF into containers it’s nice to know where it came from. To give the QuayPack team more ‘product knowledge’, Nelson Pine Industries Despatch Manager Warran Clark ran a site tour for them in November. QuayPack Supervisor Andy Farmer says it’s the second time his team have visited NPIL. The last time was a couple of years ago, and the recent trip was for new players on the port container packing team.
Silver for Les Les Gill from Cargo Operations is the latest staff member to join that exclusive club of staff who have worked at the port for 25 years or more. Les grew up in Invercargill, moving to Nelson in 1982 and soon after got a job on the suction dredge Karatea, as the Maitai reclamation took shape. Next, Les took on the role of caring for the newly created land, laying lawns and planting shrubs around Akersten Street and the Marina back in the days when the Harbour Board was in control of this area.Les has had a hand in many milestones at the port, such as packing the first MDF in containers, laying the groundwork for what is now QuayPack. He recalls a time when he and Phil Francois were the only staff at the Container Yard and all the documentation was done by hand – before the advent of computers. For the last five years Les has run our Quarantine Facility, devanning hi-risk containers and calling in the MAF team if he finds contamination or wildlife! Les takes the responsibility of this job seriously and looks back at a working life that has provided him with an income, stability and the company of a ‘good bunch of guys’. Les brings the total number of ‘silver servers’ to 13 - the longevity of service in our team is testimony to staff commitment and the enjoyment our people take in their work.
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Study Success
Health ChecksSitting all day in a forklift can be hard on your back, but our drivers now have a range of tips to avoid pain associated with long sits. Earlier in the year Nikola Huntingford, an Occupational Therapist with Ramazzini, carried out ergonomic assessments focussed on maximising operator comfort, efficiency, safety and ease of use. Drivers were wised up on the importance of micropauses, muscle stretches, and improved positioning of head, neck, trunk and limbs.
Chris Growcott took the tips on short breaks and stretching exercises to heart, and keeps the info in the cab of his hi-stacker as a reminder.
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 8 Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 9
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Keeping SafeWe welcome any suggestions or information to make Port Nelson a safer working environment.
If you have a name you would like added to our mailing list, please let us know.
Coastguard to the Rescue
We were pleased to provide the Coastguard Service with a safe area to train boat operators and to offer the help of our training officer Jim Lane in the pilot vessel. The day was a great success, with 12 students passing the course. Those involved felt it was worthwhile, and the class is likely to be repeated for Coastguard and for Sea Scouts. Coordinator Milo Coldren says it’s encouraging to see the emphasis on training to improve safety for youth.
Handling the LinesEight new line handlers joined our Marine Services at the end of July. Initial training covered all aspects of hazard identification and safety procedures around line handling, the practical side of the job and the context of wider port operations. The line handlers have now been on the job for four months and are confident in their work.
From left are Pat Bevernage, Rutene Cooper, Glen Bisdee, Andrew Rankin, Alan Baumgart, Bob Huggins, Jim Tompkins and Neil McArtney.
It’s not exactly traffic lights, but it will tell boaties when they need to stay clear of the Cut. We are in resource consent stage prior to installing a ‘stop-go’ light on Haulashore Island. This is part of the harbourmaster’s response to the recommendation in the port’s navigational risk assessment for ‘greater attention to the management of recreational activity and conflicts between commercial and recreational craft’. The light will be seen from a pole, to be erected on the northern side of Haulashore Island and will flash red when a large vessel movement is imminent and then turn to fixed red to indicate the Cut is closed to all craft other than the large vessel and assisting tugs. After consultation with iwi and environmental groups it was decided rather than digging the cable in across Haulashore, it would be run on the seabed from Wakefield Quay.
Light on HaulashoreThis graphic representation indicates where the light will be placed. It will be ten metres above ground and the pole will be made of wood, to better blend with the environment. The route of the cable is indicated in yellow, but it will be trenched to low water mark.▲
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 10
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Reliance Engineering’s connection with Port Nelson Limited goes back many years. Right now, under a new ‘helmsman’, Reliance is looking to build on the strong relationship between the two companies as it begins to unfold some meaty growth plans for the future.
The business was acquired last year by the Challenge New Zealand Group, which has three other port based companies under its umbrella: Fluid Power Solutions, Challenge Marine, and McBride Design. The four businesses work independently in various sectors of engineering (land based, marine, hydraulics and design), each with its own management team responsible for the strategic direction of their business unit.
Andrew Gray was appointed as General Manager for Reliance earlier this year. He has lived in Nelson for five years, contracting to the Pike River Coal scheme on the West Coast for the past three years.
Andrew says he came into a company where the existing management
team had created a sound platform, and the last six months have
seen a lot of intensive planning and work on strategies for growing
the business over the next 10 to 15 years.
Andrew rates the port company as an ‘A-Class’ client, and says
Reliance staff work closely with the port infrastructure team and
have developed a high level of trust. There are not many weeks
where Reliance has not got a project on the go for Port Nelson – they
recently constructed a mud slicer that will be suspended under the
tug Huria Matenga to take pinnacles of material off the sea floor in
the shipping channels. (Read more in Port Progress on page 5.)
The future looks bright for Reliance: “We are very excited about the
next few years, this year we are working hard on priming the business
for the future, bedding down our plan and aligning that with Group
objectives,” Andrew says. “We are making sure our management
systems are robust, and building on our capacity and capabilities.”
Andrew says the strong relationship with Port Nelson will be
increasingly important in the future, as the port is a critical part of the
company’s growth plan to attract new engineering opportunities to
the region and access potential markets throughout New Zealand
and overseas.
A company we RELY on
“The fundamentals at Reliance are very good with a strong team-based culture that is a credit to the effort put in over the years from guys like our Works Manager Kim Harris,” Andrew Gray, General Manager says.
“We are a very traditional family-type engineering business with a number of loyal and long standing customer relationships, good skills and quality, and strong business ethics.”
Andrew Gray and Kim Harris with the new mud slicer, under construction in the Reliance workshop.
The North Cardinal Beakon was fabricated for Port Nelson by Reliance Engineering in 2006.
Stepping to AwarenessThe old Indian saying about walking in someone else’s moccasins holds true for crane drivers – it’s hard to fathom just what their job entails, without seeing them in action. The Port Noise Liaison Committee was offered this opportunity after their September meeting, when they made a trip to Main Wharf South and climbed up to the crane cabin to see what’s involved in trying to land a container quietly – when you can’t always see it or the space it’s to go in, when the wind is blowing and when you are dependent on a guy with an RT in the ship’s hold acting as your eyes and ears. The members of the committee got a new understanding of what it takes to make container handling a quiet operation, the skills of the drivers and the rest of the stevedoring crew, and the lengths they take to keep the operation as quiet as possible.
Noise committee chairman Bob Dickinson and residents’ rep Bruce Robinson at the top of the crane.
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Fighting Marine PestsThe potential for pest species to harm the unique marine environment of the top of the South Island is being minimised through the work of a new partnership between central and local government, the eight Iwi of the area, community and industry interests. This collaboration, the Top of the South Marine Biosecurity Partnership, was launched in Nelson in September and is a pilot programme funded by MAF Biosecurity New Zealand and local councils. They’ve contracted Mincher Campbell Limited to tackle coordination and advocacy. Coordinator Russ Mincher says the first job is to identify the high-value areas to protect, develop surveillance programmes to look out for new marine pests and begin to identify activities that pose a risk of spreading marine pests. Russ says it’s vital local boat owners keep the hulls of moored boats clean and well anti-fouled. And boaties are asked to report anything unusual they see out there to MAF’s pest and disease hotline: 0800 80 99 66.
New dredging consentThe Kawatiri was in Nelson to do our annual maintenance dredging in October, the first visit since we obtained our new consents, which requires considerably more sampling and testing than in the past. The new consents for dredging and disposal of spoil are for a period of 30 years, giving us much more certainty on maintaining the navigation channels to their required depth. The tests included hopper sediment sampling from three areas inside and outside the Cut, which was done by the dredge crew, using sampling containers supplied by Cawthron with the material then tested at the Cawthron laboratory. Cawthron scientists (photo below) also went out to the spoil disposal ground in their boat and followed the discharge plume after the
dredge had disposed of a hopper load. They ran tests for particles, smell and appearance of the water quality. Cawthron also tested sediment samples from within the dredging areas.
Noise updateWe are making progress on meeting the terms of the Noise Variation adopted by the Nelson City Council last year, and working with residents on the full or partial noise insulation treatment for homes near the port. To date we have bought three of the most affected homes where the owners elected to sell. These homes have now been treated to mitigate noise and two have resold. There has been progress on noise treatment now with 8 out of the 11 most affected homes. In the next tier, of less affected homes, we have sent 110
letters to homeowners and have about 35 who have requested more information, and some have requested further mitigation work. The feedback from residents’ reps on the Noise Liaison Committee is very positive about the process we are working through. We now have a continuous noise monitor up and running to provide us with valuable information about how much noise we are actually making, with the hope being that this will allow us to more effectively manage noise at source.
RePort is Green In line with our environmental policies
RePort uses elemental chlorine free paper produced from sustainably managed forests. RePort is printed with vegetable based inks.
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 11
A diver filming during a survey of ‘wildlife’ on port piles.
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Workshop Supervisor Craig Terris with the new noise monitor that has just been installed on the cement silo.
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 12
Karen reveals that our Boulder Bank is the largest of any such
naturally occurring landform in the world; it is longer than England’s
Chesil Beach and the Amanohashidate that spans Miyazu Bay in our
Japanese sister city.
Karen says the book, her first, grew out of her own fascination with
the Boulder Bank.
“For those of us who live in Nelson it is easy to take its embrace for
granted, content in the sheltering protection it gives as we enjoy
the marine playground of Nelson Haven,” she says. “In this book
I have set out to provide a broad picture of the physical nature
and characteristics of the Boulder Bank, the impact of Maori and
European settlers, and how the Boulder Bank itself has influenced
our history.”
Boulder Bank Bill
The story of Boulder Bank Bill is one of many tales documented in
Rolling Stones. Bill Clark was a retired Scottish seaman who became
known as Boulder Bank Bill. Karen quotes from a feature on Boulder
Bank Bill printed in the Nelson Evening Mail in 1994, when he was 83
years old and had lived on the Bank for 37 or 38 years. He bought his
bach for £35, but had never intended to stay on the Boulder Bank:
“It was to be a refuge … But as I got older I got lazier and everything
got easier. I would not go back to town now… When I first arrived
this place was a terrible shack. An open fire with water running down
walls made from all sorts of rubbish. I’ve got a world of my own here
– sometimes too much so. But it’s a home. In a house all you want is
comfort, convenience, warmth, food, and a good bed.
“Some people are afraid of high seas covering us, but it doesn’t worry
me. The Bank goes down a long, long way. In any case, it’s warmer
here in winter with no frosts. That’s something I notice when I go over
to Nelson. It’s really cold sometimes. The sea makes things warmer.”
It was not a luxurious life by any means. There was no electricity and
the freshwater supply was from water off the roof. The Mail noted:
“His hardboard floors are bare, his bed built of strips of wood nailed
together and fixed to the wall in the corner of the bedroom.”
Bill recalled how, when he was younger, overseas ships used to throw
their dunnage overboard. This provided him with a ready supply of
wood for his fireplace but the practice later died out. He typically
had large stacks of chopped driftwood piled outside his home.
For many years he regularly rowed ashore to buy his supplies and
socialise. He kept an old bike at the port to use as transport and
he would cycle around to collect his groceries, source new library
books, visit the RSA and carry out any other errands. He later got an
outboard motor for his dinghy to make life a little easier.
Rolling Stones – Nelson’s Boulder Bank has full colour illustrations
throughout its 320 pages. There are many historic photos, and
contemporary shots by Karen’s husband, John Warren. The book is
published by Nikau Press and is available at Nelson bookstores for
From its place in Maori myth to the ongoing debate about how the bank was formed, local writer Karen Warren has captured the many facets of the Boulder Bank in a new book with the catchy title Rolling Stones - Nelson's Boulder Bank, Its Place in our History and Hearts.
The stories of the people who lived on the Boulder Bank include the keepers of the lighthouse, documented in Karen Warren’s new book, Rolling Stones.
