Mounting Costs Faced In Plant For Port Maintenance

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28979, 21 August 1959, Page 23

Mounting Costs Faced In Plant For Port Maintenance

Th* costs of "fools'* fo build and maintain th* port of Lyttelton hav* mounted terrifically in th* last 50 years.

Still doing excellent work in the main channel and also in the area to be reclaimed for the new harbour is the dredge Canterbury. It cost £38,000 when it arrived in 1912. There is now building in Scotland for the board a new dredger, with 50 percent more capacity and speed, at a cost of more than £600,000. The first tug Lyttelton, a paddle steamer of 100 h.p., was built at Birkenhead in 1878 at a cost of £9OO, and in 1907 she was sold to the Devonport Ferry Company, Auckland, for £3500. Among her crew on four months’ voyage from Birkenhead was the late Captain A. W. Owles, who became an identity of New Brighton. The first dredger was a small) scoop dredge built by Andersons,; Ltd., and the next purchase was in 1879 of the 128-ton schooner, Minna Bell, of Melbourne. She was fitted with light dredging material but by 1890 she was “fast decaying.” She ended her days when she was the centre of a spectacular explosion at one of Lyttelton’s celebrated New Year Day regattas. Dredging was spasmodic and the dredge Erskine and two hopper barges, which had cost £32,000, were sold to the Government for the Westport Harbour Board in 1890 for £12,000. The board then hired Dredge 222 belonging to the Otago Harbour Board. The ill-fated Manchester was the next dredge to work the harbour. The Manchester was bought for £12,750 from the Manchester Ship Canal Company in 1898 and took 14 months on the voyage to Lyttelton. She was sold in 1912 to the Sydney Harbour Trust for £9BOO. Her port of departure for Australia was Wellington and she was never heard of again. Dredging Scheme It was at the turn of the century that a fresh dredging scheme was begun, the board deciding to deepen the inner harbour and to dredge a channel in the outer harbour to a depth of 27 feet at low water. Purchased for £11,200, the uew Priestman grab hopper dredge, Te Whaka, still giving service at Lyttelton, arrived in 1910. Built by (Ferguson Bros., of Glasgow, the Te Whaka is capable of dredging

to 40 feet and carrying 300 tons of spoils in her hoppers. Still Efficient Two years later the new dredge Canterbury, still giving complete satisfaction, arrived from Renfrew, where she was built at a cost of £38,000 by W. Simons and Company. The Canterbury has undergone substantial modifications and repairs until she could hardly be described today as the Canterbury built in 1911. The new dredge being built at Renfrew by Lobnitz, Ltd., is expected to arrive at Lyttelton next June and with the Canterbury will be engaged on the eastern harbour extension dredging. When the new harbour is finished, the Canterbury will be gold. Comparisons of the two vessels are as follows, with figures for the Canterbury first:— Length, 230 ft, 300 ft; beam, 38ft, 48ft; draught loaded, 15ft 7in, 16ft 3in; hopper capacity, 1000 tons, 1750 tons; speed loaded, 6j knots, 104 knots; dredging depth, 45ft, 60ft; loading time, 17min, 15min. Powerful Tug The tug Lyttelton was the most powerful tug in New Zealand waters when she was delivered at Lyttelton in 1910. She cost £13.980 and was built by Ferguson Bros., of Glasgow. Her horsepower was 750. In 1939, the new tug, Lyttelton 11, arrived. She has 1250 h.p. When pilots are called to bring vessels into the harbour or on leaving the ships off the anchorage off Camp Bay, the pilots are transported in the fine pilot boat, Wairangi. She was built as a pleasure vessel for the late Mr W. R. Carey, of Christchurch, and was commandeered during World War II as an examination vessel for Lyttelton, every ship or boat entering or leaving the harbour reporting to staff aboard her. The tugs and the pilot boat are modernly equipped with radiotelephone. direction finder and radar. The tugs also have powerful fire-fighting pumps, and Canterbury II is a complete salvage ship. Another vessel at Lyttelton which earns its keep is the 80-ton self-propelling floating crane, F.apaki, built by Fleming and Ferguson, Ltd., with Sir William lArrol and Company, Ltd., of (Glasgow, for £42,000. The crane (made the trip to Wellington in i about 20 weeks. Its lifting capacity is 80 tons at a 40ft radius, 60 tons 'at a 65ft radius, and 15 tons at an 80ft radius.