No surge at Cashin Quay, Minister assured

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32613, 22 May 1971, Page 18

No surge at Cashin Quay, Minister assured

He would be extremely pleased if the Lyttelton Harbour Board could convince him that surge would not interfere with container or bulk loading at Cashin Quay, said the Minister of Transport (Mr Gordon) when he met the chairman (Mr F. I. Sutton) and members of the board yesterday.

“It will give new strength to argue for Lyttelton in Wellington,” Mr Gordon said. “There have been reports, some from Christchurch but also from Otago, that surge affects shipping at Cashin Quay. If you can show me otherwise, it will help me with the National Ports Authority and the Transport Advisory Council.

Mr Sutton said that only one loading in 450 was affected. The chief engineer (Mr J. F. Bushell) said the Cashin Quay berths were affected on only one day in a year. “There is no surge at the quay—surge is a fore and aft movement,” he said. “There is a little to and fro movement, but there is a tolerance of 9in for loading containers into a cellular ship, provided by the crane,” Mr Bushell said. “We have taken measurements, and the to and fro movement can be handled at the quay except about one day a year.”

Mr Sutton said that shipping company experts and the masters of vessels had described Cashin Quay, without being solicited, as the finest berth in the Southern Hemisphere. MINISTER’S ACCEPTANCE “I accept what you say,” said Mr Gordon. "I can tell you that if movement because of swell will be a minor problem at Lyttelton, then the wind at Wellington is a much bigger problem. Container ships and cranes can load in winds up to 35 knots—but there are many occasions in Wellington when the. wind is 43 knots.” The Lyttelton board was

wise in building the third berth and apron behind to take an axle load of up to 50 tons, even though it would cost about $500,000 more than the normal 8-10 ton axle load maximum. Mr Gordon expressed reservations about the board’s plans to bulk handle phosphates at Cashin Quay, and said he had seen the problems created by dust in other ports. He thought the operation would have to be closed in because of that. He queried the board’s plans to run a railway line in a curve across flat land to extend out to the planned stock-piling depot on the Cashin Quay eastern exten-

sion. and said he thought the board and the Railways Department should consider taking the line through a tunnel in place of the curve. “I have never seen a port in New Zealand with enough flat land. Keep your flat land,” Mr Gordon said. “I have seen several ports all round the world, and apart from New York and an odd one in Australia, none have enough flat land.” INSPECTION OF PORT Mr Gordon, during an inspection of the port, was told that a lack of flat land for an assembly area—mainly for cars at peak periods—meant congestion in the twoway flow of cargo traffic at the inter-island steamer express roll-on, roll-off berth. The board was negotiating to lease about half an acre of land from the railways, to be used at peak periods bj stopping rail traffic for an hour or two from a nearby cargo ship finger wharf. Mr Bushell said that he had had a favourable response from Christchurch Railways Department officers. Mr Gordon said he recognised the problem; and he hoped mutual agreement could be reached between the board and the department. “When you are ready, tell me, and I will send down the Assistant General Manager of Railways (Mr L. Crawford) who is authorised to make decisions on the spot,” Mr Gordon said.

He thought the board, department, and the Post Office could come to an agreement about the moving of buildings for necessary road widening in Lyttelton to take articulated trucks. The Post Office might have to be “leant on a little,” Mr Gordon said.