Harbour Works Well Ahead

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31239, 10 December 1966, Page 1

Harbour Works Well Ahead

Progress on extensions to the Westport harbour breakwaters is so good that the £700,000 project could be completed well ahead of schedule.

The contractor, Wilkins and Davies, Ltd., began the work in May, 1965, and had three years to complete it. But exceptionally favourable weather and the use of the best equipment available have enabled the company to work at a much faster pace than was first thought possible.

Progress has pleased Ministry of Works officials, including the District Commissioner (Mr D. B. Dallas), who returned to Christchurch on Thursday after a tour of major works on the West Coast. Mr Dallas said yesterday that the extensions to the breakwaters on both sides of the Buller river, which forms the entrance to the harbour, would obviate major shipping difficulties. Previously, coastal ships which call at Westport to pick up coal and cement have often sailed with less than full cargoes because of a sand bar which built up at the mouth. The design of the breakwaters is such that scouring at the mouth will be increased, thus preventing the

build-up of silt which occurs as the drifts flow up the coast. The breakwaters form a canal which protrudes into the sea 300 ft on the western side of the river and 500 ft on the eastern side. They slope towards each other at angles of 10 degrees from the land on either side of the river mouth. At the extremity of the mouth tbe breakwaters are 400 ft apart, whereas the entrance was once 600 ft. Work on the western breakwater is practically completed except for final trimming of armouring rock, which is the overcoat of the breakwater. The outer extremity, which slants into the sea at a grade of one in five, has also to be finished. Both the armouring granite rock and the core filling are being quarried at Cape Foulwind about six miles away and brought to the site by specially designed trailers. 300,000 TONS NEEDED In ail, the company will move 300,000 tons of rock to complete the job. About 20 per cent of this has to ba in pieces weighing between 10 and 30 tons. A huge crane, which cost £70,000, whisks the core filling from the steel bins carried on trailers from the quarry. The improvements to the harbour will meet the requirements of expanded shipping in and out of Westport. New Zealand Cement Holdings’ workings at Cape Foulwind have doubled output recently and are relying more on sea transport to get cement to markets throughout the country.