Port Marlborough calls for industry support on Picton dry dock proposal

Saturday, 14 July 2018

Port Marlborough chief executive Rhys Welbourn is championing a dry port for Picton.

The location of a multimillion-dollar dry dock touted as the future of New Zealand's role in the international shipping industry is in doubt as industry heads consider their position.

This week Port Marlborough threw its support behind a floating dry dock at Shakespeare Bay, near Picton, as a solution for the shipping industry's multimillion-dollar problem, after launching a feasibility study last September.

Ferries, commercial ships and the defence force are spending big money and making big emissions, travelling overseas for maintenance work and repairs because the largest dry dock at Auckland's Devonport Naval Base – built in 1888 – is too small, only taking ships up to 170 metres long.

Port Marlborough chief executive Rhys Welbourn said Shakespeare Bay was the perfect spot for a dry dock for ships up to 250m long, meeting criteria floated by the New Zealand Shipping Federation, and was poised to make a resource consent application.

The Devonport dry dock, built in 1888, can take ships up to 170m in length and 22.5m wide.

Shakespeare Bay is very deep and is already visited by export shipping companies and large cruise ships.

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Welbourne expected the project would generate hundreds of jobs in Picton but wants to ensure future users were in favour of the site before starting reports for the resource consent application.

But key stakeholders – including the Defence Force which runs the current dry dock – are keeping mum on the subject.

'Picton is in the centre of New Zealand, we're on the end of the ferry route. So there's a lot of operational efficiency being in the centre of New Zealand. The ferries can literally just pop around the other bay,' Welbourne said.

An independent study of a new dry dock in 2015 put the price tag at up to $80m, but estimated it would bring in $38 million in regional income a year. Whangarei, Otago, Lyttleton and Nelson were also on the shortlist.

Already the deepest berth in the country it would require minimal dredging and already operated 24 hours.

'If there's a solid view that Shakespeare Bay is the right place, we'll go ahead and do the detailed feasibility study and concept design,' Welbourn said.

'We need to know if it's going to be supported by the industry, the shipping industry federation and the Defence Force … and if everyone says yes, that's when we can start investing in the next phase.'

But despite Welbourn's call for backing, the Defence Force declined to reveal its preference, and the Shipping Federation said it wanted to remain neutral.

The New Zealand Shipping Federation executive director Annabel Young said all arriving ships had to meet increasingly strict biosecurity regulations, and a dry dock would allow ships to be cleaned upon arrival in New Zealand waters if required.

There was also a financial and environmental cost in sending ships overseas for repairs and maintenance, she said.

'The ships use a huge amount of fuel to get to either Sydney or Singapore.'

Babcock International managing director Chris Saxby – which operates the Devonport dry dock for the Defence Force – would not make 'any comment or speculation at this time'.

A spokesperson for the Defence Force also declined to comment on its preferred site.

Young hoped the silence meant a decision was pending.