Container terminal will be on time, if cash arrives

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 21

Container terminal will be on time, if cash arrives

(By

MURRAY SIMPSON)

Twelve months after getting Ministerial approval, Lyttelton’s container terminal project is in full flight and shows every sign of meeting the target date for completion of March, 1977.

As long as the monev keeps flowing, that is. Right now the Lyttelton Harbour Board faces the prospect of running out of cash reserves by the middle of May and every avenue is being explored to keep the works programme going. What delays the board has experienced have been minimal and do not appear to have had any effect on the final completion date. Sidings first Only the new slm tug, being built in Whangarei, threatened for a time to delay proceedings after delays in the supply of steel. Between May of this year and March of next year various parts of the building programme will be completed, though the most spectacular bits — the container crane, straddle carriers, and tug —- will not appear before the end of the programme. First to be completed will

be the container terminal railway sidings, which should be ready next month. The composite gang facilities block is scheduled for August, and the wharf extensions and container washing area should be completed by September. Tenders for a two-storey administration building, with a signal tower on top, have been let and the tenderers expect to complete the building before the end of this year. Progress ‘good’ One of the most expensive items, the container crane, is progressing steadily. The various components are at different stages of completion though many of the important items being built in Perth are more than half finished. Electrical equipment from the United States and Australia is ready to install, and a Christchurch contractor is preparing to start on fabricating the boom. Most of the activity at Lyttelton at present is centred on the paving of the terminal area.

Progress on this work is good, says the board’s chief engineer (Mr J. B. Bushell), and most of it should be completed by August, though a little will be held

over for completion in October.

Dredging the container berth has been fitted into the general dredging work at the port, and Mr Bushell said he could see no difficulty in finishing the container berth dredging by the middle of this year. Only “minimal” dredging is needed to give the required depth at the berth, he said.

Work on the South Island’s second container terminal at Dunedin is also progressing smoothly.

Dunedin’s terminal should be completed five months before Lyttelton’s and, according to the Otago Harbour Board’s chief engineer (Mr R. M Davis), “everything is falling into place" at the moment. Dredging ‘ahead’ The wharf should be completed by August, he said, and the crane is expected in September or October. The reclamation work is showing “very satisfactory” progress, and it should be sufficiently reticulated with power and other services by October to handle refrigerated containers.

The board’s two new tugs, which the board built itself in Dunedin, have been completed. The dredging is progress-

ing particularly well, said Mr Davis, and should be finished ahead of time, in September.

Otago is also having its problems with finance. The board is spending a slm a month and its cash reserves will run out within the next six weeks.

Like Lyttelton, Otago will look to the Government to release the grip on local body finance very soon.

Inflation and devaluation had taken their toll of Otago’s original estimates for the terminal, Slim, and the board would have to find an additional slm, said Mr Davis.

Lincoln netball

First round results of Lincoln Netball Sub-association matches were:—

A grade: Rolleston 29, Checkers 12; Lincoln I 27, Tai Tanu 17; Ngati Moki 23. Lincoln II 18; Springston 49. Prebbleton 22. Senior reserve: Rolleston I 20 Greenpark 6; Springston 26, Prebbleton 8; Tai Tapu 17 Lincoln 3. B grade: Rolleston I 27, Wombles 13; Springston 20, Greenpark 20; Tai Tapu 37, Prebbleton 5. C grade: Lincoln I 21, Tai Tapu 20; Springston 23, Lincoln II 14; Rolleston I 20. Greenpark 10. Primary one: Ladbrooks 16. Lincoln II 8: Rolleston 15, Burnham 4; Lincoln I 40, Prebbleton 3. Primary two: Rolleston 10, Tai Tapu 9; Lincoln I 18, Springston 16; Lincoln II 6, Prebbleton 3.