Off-shore loading appealing option

Press, 17 September 1980, Page 21

Off-shore loading appealing option

Westpojt Reporter

A $4O million multi-pur-pose off-shore loading facility off the North Beach at Westport would ensure the future of the Railways in the area and the future of the Cape Foulwind Cement Works, according to a Government transport study of options for the export of West Coast coal. The report, compiled jointly by "the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Works and Development, was prepared for the Cabinet Economic Committee. It warns that should a mono-mooring buoy at Ngakawau be chosen ahead of train to Lyttelton or the jetty proposal, the Railways would be at risk. It further suggests that unless a jetty outlet for large-scale c, .ment exports is provided the Cape Foulwind works could close when .the new Oamaru cement plant opens. The 120-page report, which has been referred to the West Coast Regional Development Council .' for comment, concludes that while a $l7 million point mono-mooring buoy off Ngakawau is the cheapest export system and the most economic in the National interest, from the regional viewpoint the offshore. jetty system has advantage in promotL.g cement and woodchip

..It. mentions likely exports of 250,000 tonnes of cement and 150,000 tonnes of woodchip annually via the jetty. The report costs a deepwater port off the North Beach, Westport, at $lBB million and at Point Elizabeth, near Greymouth, at $l9B million and says neither could be justified in economic terms.

It also concludes that “transhipment via rail, barge or road incurs additional handling costs so as io make them unattractive.”

The various transport options studied included rail to Lyttelton, road transport to Nelson, barging from Westport to Nelson, Picton, Taranaki or Marsden Point, a monomooring buoy, an offshore jetty and deep-water ports at Westport and Greymouth. The transport costs per tonne of coal , from minehead to overseas destination at the rate of 500,000 annually is given as: buoy $24,54,' jetty $34.60, barging Nelson $40.68, Picton $37.07, . Taranaki $39,05, Marsden Point $44.14, rail Lyttelton $36.89, road Nelson $50.90. At an export level of one million tonnes annually it would cost $55.24 a tonne to ship through a deep-water port on the coast.

The report also noted that a jetty became a more attractive proposition as tonnages increased. The cost per tonne for shifting. 250,000 tonnes via a buoy were $36.62 and by jetty $50.25. But at a million tonnes the difference is only- $6.50 — $21.07 against $26.59. A plan accompanying the report shows the jetty extending J hree kilometres from Westport. However, this is not the only site and others further west on Carter’s , Beach are also under consideration. The prestressed concrete jetty would be equipped with a conveyer and loader for coal a.id woodchip and a pipeline for cement and its width would allow for a four-metre-wide road along its entire length. The report warns that a decision for the monomooring buoy, which is being promoted vigorously by the Mines Division, could spell doom to the Buller railway system because it would be.cheaper to build a second buoy off

Greymouth than to rail Grey coal to Ngakawau.

The loss of 300 railwaymen and the possible loss of another 150 jobs if the cement works closed through lack of an export shipping facility near Westport, would be a very serious economic blow to the Buller district. “There must be a serious possibility of the development, at Weston leading eventually to the closing of the Cape Foulwind plant,” the report says. “If this did occur there would be very serious implications for the Buller region. Over 150 jobs depend directly on the Cape Foulwind plant and . its closing would require a review of the continued operation of the Westport branch line (unless of course Buller coal is shipped through Lyttelton).