Board to study L.P.G. berth for Naval Point

Press, 3 November 1983, Page 9

Board to study L.P.G. berth for Naval Point

The cost of investigating the siting of a bulk liquids berth at Naval Point, to handle liquefied petroleum gas shipments, will be studied by the Lyttelton Harbour Board.

The cost of the investigation was estimated at $215,000, said the chief engineer, Mr J. B. Bushell, yesterday. Mr Bushell said an investigation would be essential before the establishment of a bulk liquids berth. "I would expect the siting to be in that area, butjts exact siting would be subject to investigations,” he said. The board yesterday decided to refer the matter of cost to the next meeting of its works committee.

A motion by the chairman, Mr G. E. Wright, not to proceed with an invest!-

gation “at this stage” was lost.

Several of the board members said it was imperative for the board to consider the matter immediately. Mrs J. M. Waters said the board had a moral obligation to the people of Lyttelton and Canterbury to follow up the recommendation of the Royal Commission of Inquiry. The commission recommended that the board make a study into the Naval Point site as a possible bulk liquids berth “as a matter of priority.” The board has said that L.P.G. tankers can berth at the port’s oil wharf. The deputy chairman, Mr P. J. R. Skellerup, supported Mr Wright’s motion, saying that an investigation was “not a matter of immediate urgency.”

“In the long term we should think of moving the oil terminal to Naval Point ... but there is no point in rushing the investigation.” Mr. I. D. Howell said he supported L.P.G.’s coming to Lyttelton, but was concerned about the division it had caused among residents and board members. “The board must be seen to be doing something. It is not a matter that should be passed over,” he said. Mrs Waters said the cost of the investigation should be “broken down” by the works committee, for early consideration by the board. “I feel disturbed that we can come up with a nonanswer when all this money was a Royal Commission,” she said. The board had to start considering how to budget for the investigation “as

soon as possible.” Mr A. A. Macfarlane said the board should not agree to spend $215,000 to investigate the siting of a berth that could cost about $4 million when it did not know where the money was coming from. Board representatives had met the Minister of Energy, Mr Birch, to discuss whether the Government could help fund the study. Mr Birch told the board that the consensus of the Minister of Transport (Mr Gair), the Ports Authority, and the oil industry was that such a study was not required yet. Mr Birch said he hoped the response of those directly affected would assist the board in making a decision on whether to adopt the commission’s recommendation.