Wgtn bids farewell to floating dock

Press, 28 December 1988, Page 3

Wgtn bids farewell to floating dock

PA Wellington Wellington’s Jubilee floating dock left the harbour at 4.30 a.m. yesterday, after 57 years as a landmark on the waterfront. The 5000-tonne dock is being towed by tug to Singapore or Bangkok, a journey expected to take about 126 days. It has been sold by its owner, the Nelson-based engineering firm, Nalder and Biddle, to an unnamed Bangkok buyer, and it is understood it will be used as a dock or a platform for building barges. Nalder and Biddle bought the dock earlier this year and intended using it in the capital. This did not happen because the company failed to reach agreement on wages and conditions with the Wellington Waterside Workers’ Union. The original owner, the harbour

board, now Port of Wellington, Ltd, sold the dock for $llO,OOO. A significant factor in the price was the company’s commitment to work the dock in Wellington. However, the Port of Wellington and Nalder and Biddle will share in the profit from the sale of the dock.

The dock has been moored beside what is now the inter-island ferry berth since it was towed into the harbour from England just after Christmas in 1931.

The Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, Bryan Jackson, said the departure of the dock was “the passing of an era in maritime history. “The Cook Strait ferries, foreign fishing vessels and, of course, the harbour board tugs will now need to steam untold distances in order to have necessary repairs and maintenance,” Mr Jackson said.