Bid to beat sub. to Auckland?

Press, 5 January 1979, Page 2

Bid to beat sub. to Auckland?

A possible conflict between the arrival of the nuclear submarine Haddo at Auckland and a bulk carrier was described yesterday as a complicating factor but not the main reason for the hurried adoption of a unique ship-handling method for bulk cargo discharge at Lyttelton this week.

The deep-draught bulk carrier Nordkyn arrived at Lyttelton direct from Long Beach, California, on Wednesday to discharge

about 1900 tonnes of soda ash.

Congested bulk-cargo discharge facilities at the port meant that the Nordkyn would have had to wait until yesterday or today before the Baynes cleared the phosphate wharf. The Nordkyn’s 34,291 (deadweight) tonnage and 31,597 tonnes of soda ash and potash cargoes presented serious problems for providing alternative berthage, but it is believed that ur-

gency about getting the ship turned round was emphasised to the Lyttelton Harbour Board.

The ship could not use the deep-draught Cashin Quay No. 3 wharf because she does not have her own grabs and Cashin Quay No. 2 was chosen in spite of the danger of the ship’s bulwarks’ slipping below the wharf fenders at low tide.

The Lyttelton Harbourmaster (Captain J. A. Barbour) introduced a plan to hold the ship away from the wharf fenders with tugs for about an hour either side of low water. A further check of tide and wind conditions before each low water, movement prompted another plan using one of the ship’s anchors with tugs available as a standby. Cargo discharge continued uninterrupted at low tide, the ship’s port anchor holding the side of the huge vessel a few centimetres away from the wharf and against the tension of the mooring lines.

The Nordkyn is scheduled to leave Lyttelton today to discharge further cargo at Mount Maunganui and then Auckland for her main dis-

charge at the Jellicoe Quay area where the Haddo is due to arrive on January 19. Draught limitations and cargo placement are believed to be dictating the Nordkyn’s future movements, but North Island reports yesterday indicated these would depend on the clearance time from Lyttelton.

Less than a fortnight remains for the Nordkyn to avoid the clash with the nuclear submarine which is expected to tie up the bulk cargo area where the Nordkyn would normally berth. Shipping interests closely connected with the Lyttelton visit declined to comment on the special measures taken, but admitted that there were some “compelling reasons.” Two holds in the Nordkyn containing the Lyttelton cargo were chartered by Alex Harvey Industries, Ltd, represented by the principal of J. W. Wood and Associates (Mr J. W. Wood) for the cargo discharge.

He said he was aware of the over-all complicating factor of the nuclear submarine, but the requirements of his responsibilities were not influenced by the problem.

Mr Wood'would not discuss specific charter or

cargo terms regarding the vessel and said a quick turnround of any ship was always his aim.

“Even if there were no nuclear submarines in the Pacific at all, my personal responsibility to this operation would not have changed, because we have seven and a half days to discharge the ship,” he said. “We have to get it discharged as quickly as possible because if we don’t get it discharged in that time there would be substantial demurrage costs, and if time is made up there is a dispatch, or refund of money.” Four gangs had been working in two hatches on the ship and hoppers available at No. 2 Cashin Quay would have enabled the ship to have been pushed through even faster, said Mr Wood. Captain Barbour said he had been made aware of the submarine problem, but his task was always to try to provide facilities to keep ships moving instead of riding at anchor. i “Because of this I devised I the system for the Nordkyn I with the full co-operation of I the shipping company and the ship’s crew,” he said.