NAPIER HARBOUR

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19880, 6 March 1939, Page 14

NAPIER HARBOUR

CONSTRUCTION PLANS wharves and shelter provision for cargo Berthage by September Berthage for overseas liners will be available at the first of the new concrete wharves at Napier by the end of September, according to estimates placed before a meeting of the Napier Harbour Board this week. The actual wharf construction will be complete by July, it is hoped, and the addition of raker piles for earthquake resistance, and the erection of timber tendering, together with the erection of goods sheds on the wharf, will take another two months. Vigorous constructional methods have been adopted by the board's engineer for the wharf job, and though there are difficulties inseparable from so large a scheme of work, the progress maintained during recent weeks has given much satisfaction to members ol" the controlling authority. Nearly All the Piles Ready Practically all the piles required for the wharf are ready for driving, and the pile-driving machine, which carries boring as well as driving equipment, is now working at a distance of 656 ft. from the shore-line. There is a further 66ft. to cover with the piling, and super-structure work is following closely behind the driving plant, the gap between drivers and superstructure work being at present about 150 ft. Once driven in position, the piles are cut down to near the water-level, and on the piers are raised mass-con-ciete haunches, fully reinforced with steel which is interlocked with that oi the piling proper. The twenty-fifth span of the wharf was built up during the past week, and the concrete poured for the whole of the span and one supporting pier in a day's work. Second Concrete Wharf Preparatory work in connection with the second of the concrete wharves is now in hand, and it is expected that this will be constructed more rapidly than that now receiving attention. Piles are being made for the second wharf, and the transfer oi plant will be effected without delay once the first wharf is sufficiently forward. To furnish protection for the new work, the Napier breakwater is being extended, and it is expected that the end of September will see this completed, so that liners will be able to berth at the wharf in safety. Dredging progress has fallen behind expectations, according to the report of the engineer. Mr. G. W. B. Lowson. the board's dredge having encountered hard ground, in various parts of the harbour bed. la consequence of the slowing-up of this work, blasting has been resorted to by the engineer, to break up the surface of the rock-beds and facilitate the dredge's handling of the rock.

The objective of the dredging programme is to give a depth of 30ft. over the area of the swinging basin, off the wharves, this being the minimum depth at iow tide. The dredg» Whakarire is to work three shifts until her next annual overhaul.