Harbour pipeline dredging

Press, 1 March 1984, Page 9

Harbour pipeline dredging

The dredging barge MacDow Sands (above) will be a familiar sight to Corsair Bay residents during the next few weeks, as she prepares the seabed for the laying of the underwater section of the Lyttelton to Woolston L.P.G. pipeline. After completion of the two tunnels through the headlands at Magazine Bay and Corsair Bay, work has now begun on preparing the harbour floor for the laying of the underwater section of the pipeline running from Corsair Bay to Rapaki Point. The barge, owned by the Auckland-based construction company, McConnell Dowell, Ltd, was brought to Lyttelton from Wanganui especially for the job. The barge will dredge the

seabed about 50 metres either side of Corsair Bay. The laying of the concrete pipe is expected to begin late next month. The pipe, which is being constructed on site at Magazine Bay, would be laid by the “plough technique,” said the project manager, Mr Warren North. The barge would float 100 m sections of

the pipe before ploughing it into place on the harbour floor, he said. It was expected to take construction staff about a week to lay the six 100 m metre sections across the harbour.

Work on the pipeline across the Port Hills continues, with most of the pipe now in place. The Lyttelton Harbour Board has issued a warning to small-boat owners to take care navigating in the vicinity of the barge at Corsair Bay. The warning covers an area 260 metres north of Erskine Point and west to 140 metres south of Rapaki Point on the western side of Cass Bay. Small craft will be prohibited in the area on days when the pipe is being laid.