august 2009 report - port · pdf fileaugust 2009 editorial ... marketing manager, chris...

A u g u s t 2 0 0 9

Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2• World View

Port News . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3• North Asia Trade

SupPORT our Region . . . 4• Suter sponsorship announced

Port Progress . . . . . . . . . . 5• Green Port - Black Boats

Around the Port . . . . . 6/7• Wearing White• Independent 1

Our Port Our People . . . 8• 25 Years for Colin Jefford

Safe Harbour . . . . . . . . . . 9• Dollars for Wellness

Meet the Client . . . . . . . 10• The Alexander Group

Environment Update . . . 11• Introducing Thomas Marchant

Looking Back . . . . . . . . . 12• A Short History of Fishing

in Nelson

Logs Roll ThroughWood exports have helped to maintain cargo volumes through the port over the past few months, with demand from China continuing in spite of the tough trading conditions. A key driver to this has been the reduction in the Russian wood supply, which has given New Zealand log exporters the opportunity to increase Radiata pine volume into the Chinese market. Kingsford Quay has seen plenty of action as log vessels have come and gone throughout the autumn and into winter.

Horsing AboutA container that neighs? That’s a possibility when the Chief vessels are being loaded in Nelson for the trans-Tasman voyage. For about eight years Stevedoring Services Limited have been loading horses from Canterbury, trucked up to Nelson every two or three weeks. Nelson is the last port of call in New Zealand and then it’s straight to Melbourne for the horses, which cuts down the time they spend at sea and makes it simpler for a vet check at each end of the voyage. The specially adapted containers are cleaned at our wash facility and MAF checked before departure. Feed is loaded for the horses and a groom travels with them. Puts a whole new meaning on the term ‘horse floats’.

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Port Nelson Limited report. August 2009.

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Port Nelson Limited • 10 Low Street, Port Nelson • PO Box 844, Nelson, New Zealand Tel +64 3 548 2099 • Fax +64 3 546 9015 • www.portnelson.co.nz

RePort Nelson is a triennial publication produced for Port Nelson Limited by: • Nelson Media Agency - www.nelsonmedia.co.nz • SeeReed Visual Communication - www.seereed.co.nz

Photography: Troy Dando, Roy Skucek, Brian McHaffie and Jacquetta Bell

The last few months have given a number of our staff the chance to see just how badly the recession has affected ports around the world. In early June our Chief Commercial Officer, Parke Pittar, spoke at the Terminal Operators Conference in Bremen and, in conjunction with our Business Systems Analyst, Hugh Stark, took the opportunity to visit terminal operations in Hamburg, Gdansk and Hong Kong.

I was also fortunate during May to attend the International Association of Ports and Harbours bi-annual conference in Genoa and once again it was sobering to hear of the quantum reduction in cargo through many ports through-out Asia, Europe and the US. Cargo reduction of 20% plus in many ports is not unusual, and at last report around 11% of the world container fleet is laid up doing nothing, with predictions that could rise to 20% by the end of the year.

Against this plethora of bad news and on a more positive note, New Zealand ports have not been as badly affected, with cargo tonnages in many ports holding up well. Probably

only Auckland has been affected in a major way with the significant reduction in import cargoes and motor vehicle imports.

In recent months log export volumes across the country have helped maintain cargo volumes, driven by increased demand from China. While current shipment volumes are not sustainable, this will hopefully allow the 2009-10 year to get off to a reasonable start.

The recent announcement of the proposed ‘Green Port’ concept for Port Nelson in relation to the marine engineering industry is an exciting one. While there is still a lot of work to be done by the parties concerned to get this off the ground, it is certainly a positive sign in a difficult period. As is often noted difficult times also can present new opportunities, and it is important for the ongoing development of the Nelson-Tasman region that Port Nelson Limited and associated industries play our part in grasping these opportunities when they present themselves. Our recent purchase of a share in Unimar was proof of our commitment to do this, and we look forward to considering further such opportunities as they arise.

Martin ByrneChief Executive

Port Nelson Ltd has a new online appearance with an upgrade of our website. Marketing Manager, Chris Williams says the design company we use, 3months.com (the name promises the delivery date) was offering a new and faster version of the software for our site.

The home page is a lot cleaner, with a range of photos that can be downloaded in hi-resolution. Further streamlining of the text is still to come, but the site is already offering an enhanced service to users and has a high number of daily hits, from people checking out the shipping schedule, to shipping lines using the berth booking facility.

“Container cranes sitting idle, new unsold motor vehicles lined up for miles on empty wharves and ships at anchor - all are proving to be a more frequent sight around the world, bringing home the message to us just how this recession is hitting the port industry.”

In MemoriamThe noise of container movements was more or less quelled by Phil Francois for a few minutes on Thursday May 14, when the Memorial Garden at the port was re-dedicated. The garden, with its memorial to Peter Robertson , who was killed in an accident in 2001, has been expanded significantly and landscaped with more trees and a sheltering wall. It now provides a quiet contemplative space for people to take a reflective break in their working day.

From left: Father Raymond Soriano read Psalm 23, Rosemary Robertson unveiled the new plaque, Dean Charles Tyrrell made the re-dedication and Archdeacon Andy Joseph gave a mihi to open the service.

Unity of Focus Digby Kynaston has been appointed to the new position of Port Logistics Manager, overseeing the Stevedoring and Cargo Logistics business units, which include QuayPack and the Container Yard. Digby joined us as TBS Operations Manager in 2006 and is enthusiastic about bringing a unified team together into one operating division.

“We have some great skills and resources that I feel we can use more effectively with a unified focus on our customers,” Digby says. “We’ll be able to communicate better as ‘one division’ and I am also looking forward to utilising IT systems, and training staff more in their use, across the logistics area.”

Digby says the current downturn provides an opportunity to really look at the part the port plays as the region’s ‘Gateway to the World’: “Our part in maintaining the economic health of our region is in providing the best value and most efficient service we can to exporters and shipping lines.”


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Asia TradeCOSCO is moving to larger vessels than Port Nelson can handle. However, the service to Nelson shippers will continue, with the regular fortnightly calls now being made by other members of the North Asia Vessel Sharing Agreement. Marketing Manager Chris Williams says the continu-ation of vessel calls to the port is good news: “It’s a reflection of the significance the North Asia Consortium places on Nelson exporters and their cargo volume, and will open up opportunities for our exporters with the new direct calling vessels from Hamburg Sud, MOL and NYK.”

The first of the new callers at Main Wharf on July 20.

New Suter Sponsorship We have just taken on a major new community sponsorship, naming rights for the Port Nelson Suter Contemporary Art Project. This biennial show is the Suter’s major exhibition project, with a history dating back to 1986. It brings together a group of New Zealand’s foremost artists to create works on a particular theme for a high profile exhibition. We are very pleased to be able to support the Suter in a show that allows Nelson people to see leading edge art works, that puts the Suter on the national arts ‘map’ and that is followed up with the Suter acquiring one of the works for its permanent collection. The exhibition will be held over summer 2010-11.

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Happy Filing When is filing a happy job? When you’ve got a shiny new filing cabinet thanks to the Port Nelson Trust, as they have at the local branch of the Lifeline 24 hour telephone help service. Administrator Jude Biggs says it’s important they have secure storage for files, and their old filing cabinet was just ‘past it’. Volunteer Nikkie Whitehead lends a hand with the filing.

Mad about MathsDoing your sums and tables has come a long way since you were at school! You can now go online and compete in maths exercises with kids in countries from South Africa to China and the UK. The website is called Mathletics and it costs $30 per year for kids to sign up. The Port Nelson Trust helped to get the

St Vincent Room at Auckland Point School on line and the kids say it’s great.“You create a character and earn points and certificates,” says Hamish Douglas. (seated left) “It gives the answers and explains how to get there,” says Solmaz Bakhshi-Rodriguez. (seated right)

Foosball FanaticsProject Engineer, John Hart, and Chief Commercial Officer, Parke Pittar, were the surprised winners of a table soccer game as a spot prize in the corporate section of the Port Nelson Blokes’ Day Out. John says he had a great time with his son David (17) putting the set together and ‘thrashing it’ for a couple of days, but the generous duo decided the set would be better used at the Mission to Seafarers. Manager Milo Coldren says it’s a popular addition to the facility.

Sportswoman of the YearOur ongoing sponsorship of this section of Nelson’s annual sports’ awards reinforces our own affirmative action policies on women in the workplace. This year’s title went to triathlete Britta Martin whose outstanding

performances in New Zealand and overseas include winning the Keuhback Tri in Germany and coming eighth against a strong international field at the Xterra mountain championship in Utah.

Port Nelson Kauri Kids Aquathon

There’s the Port Nelson Blokes' Day Out and the Taylorss Women’s Triathlon – now the kids are in the picture with a new event: the Port Nelson Kauri Kids Aquathon. Around one hundred kids aged eight to twelve entered the inaugural event, which involved a run up the Kauri Trail of the Centre of New Zealand, a climb over the NBS Obstacle course, then a swim at Riverside Pool. Organiser, Averil West says it was a fun way to give the kids a good workout. “We hope to be back next year, but we are thinking of changing to a Saturday afternoon rather than weekday early evening so it is a bit warmer when the kids are waiting around after their swim.”

Filipino crew from the Luminous Ace get into the spirit of the game.


Green Port - Black BoatsWe are working with the local marine engineering sector, led by Challenge New Zealand, on a proposal for a facility to build new-generation working boats in an industrial set up that complies with strict environmental standards.

The Nelson Regional Economic Development Agency (EDA) has been advised that NZ Trade and Enterprise has granted $100,000 for a feasibility study on the project, which would see a modern marine eco-village at a specially created marine precinct within Port Nelson. As part of this we are looking into the concept of shifting our workshop to Challenge NZ’s Haven Road site, giving the consortium a space that is closer to the water.

The EDA is steering the feasibility study and will engage a specialist consultant to do the job. The concept has the potential to create hundreds of jobs, up-skill the local trade and technical workforces, and pump millions of dollars into the region's economy.

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Spreading Out After ten years and thousands of container lifts, the spreaders on our Liebherr Cranes were ready for a rest. A new Bromma spreader arrived in April from Austria and after a short commissioning period went into use. Workshop Supervisor, Craig Terris says having three spreaders adds flexibility. “It means we can have one spreader in for maintenance without putting the crane out of action,” he said. “The first step was to refurbish the two older spreaders after their ten years of hard service.”

The next project is to fit all three spreaders with sensors that automatically slow their descent as they come down onto the top of a container, to quieten the landing. The clang of spreaders on containers is one of the ongoing sources of noise for hillside residents. Still with spreaders, we have also purchased a couple of new ones for two of the

‘top-lifters’ that work in the Container Yard.

Into a New Age‘Like moving from the Flintstones to the Jetsons’ is how QuayPack Foreman, Jeremy Salton describes the transition to the new Hyster 18.00 XMS, that is the pride of the container packing division right now. Jeremy says the new machine, with its 18 tonne lifting capacity, is not such an effort to drive, is more user-friendly and the cab is warm and dry.

Richer InteractionsA complete revamp of the Jade cargo tracking website now provides a much more user-friendly interface for shippers and carriers. Chief Commercial Officer, Parke Pittar says we now have the technology in place to work towards 100% pre-noting of all containers entering the port.

“Jade have developed a new Rich Internet Application that replaces the old ‘thin client access’ where each user had to be licensed and we had to visit their offices to install the software,” he explains. “The new system means they can log into Jade via the internet to pre-note containers or use facilities such as putting stops on containers or releasing them.”

Pre-noting puts all the information about a container such as contents, destination and weight into the port system and issues a pin number for each container to the shipper and the carrier. Parke says the new system is a ‘great leap forward’ especially for smaller shippers who didn’t previously have access to container tracking.

Ray McGuire and Grant Cottle with the new crane spreader.

The 22 metre Pescadore on the Unimar Calwell Slipway in June for a refit. The Golden Bay based expedition yacht is owned by Barry Walters, who is getting her certified for a trip to the Auckland Islands and Scott Base early next year.

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.Port Nelson Limited report. August 2009.

Fruit SaladSome of this year’s fruit went out on a unique loader in mid May. Seatrades Changuinola Bay loaded both apples and kiwifruit, which is unusual enough; added to that she is a union purchase geared ship, meaning ship’s derricks load the pallets of fruit, and her destination was direct to the USA which is also unusual for fruit loaded at Port Nelson. Just to top it off both Stevedoring Services Ltd and our own Tasman Bay Stevedores were loading it at the same time, and Enza and Zespri were working from the same office.

ShapeshifterEarthrace must be one of the strangest looking vessels to visit the port, calling in mid-April as part of a two-day stopover on its nationwide tour. Last June, the boat set a world record for a powerboat to circle the globe and did it with renewable biodiesel fuel and a net zero carbon footprint. The voyage covered 44,000km and took 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes, smashing the old record by more than two weeks. While in Nelson, Earthrace was open to the public and took sponsors out on a trip around the bay.

Wearing WhiteThe Safmarine Bayete is one of the large Maersk extra loaders this year. Safmarine was the prominent shipping company of South Africa, before being taken over by Maersk some time ago. They retain their separate identity and still paint their ships in the traditional white of the old reefer vessels that formed a large part of the Safmarine fleet.


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Catching the busIf you see a bus at Port Nelson dressed in the colours used in Melbourne city don’t try buying a ticket to St Kilda! A couple of the new buses pass through the port every two months as an export from Ashburton. QuayPack has the job of securing them on a 40ft flat rack and strapping them down for an inspection from a marine insurance assessor before they are declared fit to be shipped by Swire vessels across the Tasman. Supervisor Andy Farmer says it’s not a big slice of business, but it is steady and for the Christchurch company Tauras Logistics to choose Port Nelson shows we are providing a competitive service.

Farwell to Ross Heath The whitebait better look out now that Ross Heath has retired from his role as tug skipper – 40 years on from joining the Nelson Harbour Board as a wharf carpenter. Ross says the biggest change in his time at the port has been the move to containerisation, and with that a shift in the type of vessels calling here.

Ross was very thrilled with his retirement gift of a Bill Burke pastel work with the tugs WH Parr and Huria Matenga as the focal point of the painting.

Rapt to be weldingA new work experience student from Nayland College, Damian Rout, has a clear view ahead to his chosen career as a fabricator: “I just like working with metal,” he says. “I’ve been doing some welding in my work experience at the port - its good to get hands-on time.”

Damien’s invitation to do work experience came about after a school visit promoting the variety of work opportunities at the port.

Independent IThe fishing sector’s had its share of gloom, so it was good to see Sealord’s new factory trawler Independent 1 freshly painted in the company colours for sea trials before the hoki season. The 43 metre vessel was built in Norway in 1997 and has been used for fishing and as a research vessel. The on-board factory can produce skin on and off fillets, fillet blocks, mince and fishmeal.

Photo: Tim Cuff

Welcome Melisa Kappely joins us at the end of August in the new role of Employee Relations Manager.

She comes to us from Goldpine and has extensive experience in the HR field having worked previously for Fonterra, Staples Rodway and the Bank of New Zealand.

Karen Barnett becomes our Compliance Manager, reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer and responsible for the provision of effective quality management services and for overall compliance reporting and monitoring of company manuals.

News in brief Samantha Key has accepted the permanent position of Accounts Payable Officer, taking over from Kay McCullum. Samantha has worked in accounts payable background in the both the UK and Christchurch, her home town.

Congratulations and best wishes to Ryan and Sarah Wrigley who were married in late March; and to Glenn and Brigitte Davis who were married at Easter.

25 Years for Colin Jefford

The milestone of 25 years employment at Port Nelson was marked for Colin Jefford in April. Colin enjoys his job maintaining the two tugs and crewing on them, noting that he has taken the trip out through the Cut literally thousands of times. Most of his long marine history is on much longer trips – Colin went to sea when he was only 15 years old and did many years with the British Royal Navy. However, he finds his current job satisfying and enjoys the independence and freedom that goes with it.

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lePort Nelson Limited report. August 2009.

Taking up the ChallengeThe ‘PNL Global Girls’ are busy gathering up the kilometres as they take part in this year’s Workplace Challenge. It’s the second year the company has sponsored a team, and Kamelia Chapman, Karen Barnett, Tressa Latimer and Debbie Pritchard are doing us proud – having already paced their way from the open to the advanced division. This took their challenge up to 12,500 paces a day, which they can achieve through walking and other exercise such as yoga. The challenge started in late April and runs for about 10 weeks, with encouragement for achieving milestones on a website that records each team’s efforts on a course around a ‘virtual world’.

Near Hits Save LivesWe’ve covered the people who’ve won movie passes for reporting ‘near hits’ on this page, but why are we so keen on upping the reporting of these? Safety Advisor Jim Lane says accidents and near hits are all learning opportunities.

“The difference between them is that with an accident a price has been paid in either damage, or worse, injury,” he says. “Near hits are warnings that come at no direct cost - and it’s good sense and good business to work on prevention and improvement by investigating near hits as vigorously as accidents.”

Our monthly ratio of reported near hits to actual accidents is as high as six to one.

Lifesaving Gun Rather than shooting to kill, this gun shoots to save. Our new speed gun is multipurpose, and is used within the port to help keep speeds down and out on the water to monitor the speed of recreational craft within the Haven.

Dollars for WellnessSick pay is one thing – but what about being paid to stay well? For the last three years staff have been offered $350 a year in Wellness Dollars, money that can be spent on a list of approved activities, mainly focussed on encouraging physical activity. There’s been great uptake on this offer, with people putting the money into buying bikes, sporting equipment, gym memberships and yoga classes; or focussing more on their professional development with coaching sessions.

As part of this scheme, Wellness Coach Donna Corry from Ramazzini holds fortnightly sessions on site to show staff simple and practical techniques for stress reduction, releasing physical tension and sleeping better.

Port Nelson Limited report. August 2009. Page 8 Port Nelson Limited report. August 2009.

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Keeping SafeWe welcome any suggestions or information to make Port Nelson a safer working environment.

If you have a name you would like added to our mailing list, please let us know.

Safety CulturePort Nelson is up there with the top 25% of companies in New Zealand when it comes to Health and Safety, according to the team of five we sent to Auckland in May for the annual Safeguard Conference at Sky City. Led by Safety Advisor Jim Lane were Andy Farmer from Quay Pack, Shane King from Tasman Bay Stevedoring, Electrician Dennis Maxted and Peter Hoff from the Workshop. Comments from our team included:

“Health and Safety has to be part of your business not just an add-on.”

“Health and Safety has to come from the top, from the CEO down and this has improved at Port Nelson.”

Andy Farmer sums it up by noting we’re on the right track but there is always room for improvement.

Leading Lights Maritime New Zealand paid a visit in late April to conduct the first of what will be a nationwide audit of navigational aids. Marine Operations Manager and Harbour Master, Roy Skucek, Murray McGuire from PNL and a Nelson City Council representative were part of the audit. It was pleasing to see Port Nelson get high praise for the extensive background information pack prepared by Murray McGuire. We are now working on three action points to bring our systems into line with those required by MNZ. These are:

• adapting the Maximo planned maintenance system to include all nav-aids and markers outside the port

• developing a memorandum of understanding between PNL and NCC detailing ownership and responsibility for maintenance of all nav-aids

• ensuring purchase procedure for new equipment is in line with international recommendations.


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Rod Alexander has been around trucks since he was three. His Dad set up the Alexander Group in 1971 with a small fleet of tipper trucks carting grain products. The operation is now a leading tanker transportation business, providing distribution services nationwide to the wine industry, Shell NZ and BOC Ltd.

Rod did his apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic and then headed overseas to work on the groomers at a ski field in Canada. Returning home he joined the family business, first driving trucks, and going on to work in dispatch and fleet management before taking up his current role as General Manager of Alexander Grain. Rod has fond memories of his truck driving days – he says back then it was a chance to ‘turn the phone off’.

In the early 1980s the company entered the wine industry and Alexander Grain now provides specialised bulk wine transportation to strategic bottling facilities. This service combines road and coastal shipping and accounts for about a third of the Alexander Group business.

Although based in Cambridge in the Waikato, the Alexander Group has been operating in and out of Marlborough for many years. In 2005 Rod and his family followed the wine side of the business and moved to Blenheim.

To set up the service Rod had to source seventy ISO food grade containers and develop cleaning facilities and a base in Renwick – that took 18 months. During this phase Rod went back to driving trucks so he could get a feel for what was needed. He says the wine industry was very supportive from

the outset and the company was able to secure long-term contracts.

Alexander Grain collects the wine in 25,000 litre temperature-controlled containers from around sites in Marlborough, and as far away as Cromwell in Central Otago. It’s trucked to Nelson and the containers are loaded on to the Pacifica Shipping vessel, Spirit of Resolution. Within 17 hours the wine arrives at Onehunga, is unloaded onto a fleet of trucks and distributed to bottling facilities in Auckland. The containers are returned to Marlborough to be washed and re-sanitized.

One of the benefits to the wine industry of using his service is that it’s seen as ‘green freight’.

“It also makes more sense to bottle the wine in Auckland because all the consumables, like the glass and the labels are there,” Rod explains, “it’s in the port of export and the North Island is where most of the domestic market lives.”

Rod says the good relationship Alexanders have with Port Nelson and the service he receives is absolutely crucial to his operation.

“It makes it possible for us to run a competitive alternative to the main trunk line, Cook Strait and SH1 – and to deliver a service with solid support systems and personalised care,” he says. “I also recognise and appreciate the investment the port makes in purchasing new equipment, such as the top loader, that benefits our operation.”

“We were approached by Marlborough wine producers to come up with an alternative way to transport bulk wine across the Strait and up to Auckland, and I pursued the idea of using coastal shipping,” says Rod. “The

service we offer today is cost effective on the main trunk and cost competitive on SH1 and the Strait.”

Alexander’s new Argosy being loaded at Port Nelson.

The Alexander Group

Monitoring steps upPort Nelson has been granted a 30 year resource consent for the maintenance dredging that keeps the shipping channels and berths at the right depth, but this has come with increased requirements for monitoring. Some of the monitoring done by Cawthron that was previously voluntary has now become mandatory, and there are some new measures required. These include more ‘paperwork’ such as setting up a dredging complaints register that will log and follow up on calls from the public, preparing an annual work plan for the Nelson City Council, and issuing an annual report that puts the results of the testing regime into layman’s terms.

Sampling and testingSpoil from the dredge is dropped in a designated area north-west of The Cut about 4km out to sea. Monitoring of this area will now be done five yearly, but is expanded in terms of the number of contaminants sampled for. Water quality will also be monitored annually during spoil disposal operations, with the turbidity of water compared with a control site. Within the harbour there are seven sea floor sites in the dredging areas to be sampled on a rolling basis to measure the contaminants in sediments that will be transferred to the spoil ground.

At the slipwayIt takes a long time for the slipway area to silt up, and it has not been dredged for over 23 years. However, the lessees have now asked for this dredging to be done. This area has been identified as high in contaminants such as heavy metals, though in recent years there has been a lot more effort to contain the material from vessels being repaired. Cawthron staff recently did sampling to test for the current level of contaminants. The plan for disposing of the material from around the slipway is to mix it with spoil from other dredging sites in the dredge hopper to reduce the overall level of contaminants.

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Meet Thomas Marchant Our new Environmental Officer has a very relevant back-ground for the role with Port Nelson. He has been working as Compliance Officer with the Tasman District Council in the areas of Industrial Discharges and Air Quality. Before that he was employed as a Consultant Planner with a local firm, where he gained experience in some specific environmental issues we deal with, such as fumigation and dredging.

Thomas has a Bachelor of Science and a Post Graduate Diploma in Resource Studies from Lincoln University. He and his wife Bridget moved to Nelson from Christchurch a couple of years ago and have three children, Eliza (6), Louis (4) and Celeste (1). Outside work and family Thomas enjoys playing football and getting into the hills.

Our main entrance is a lot more attractive now that it has been landscaped. Nelmac carried out the project, using coastal species appropriate to the Nelson region. This is one the projects that our previous Environmental Officer, Frances Woodhead, drove along with her usual enthusiasm, and as the trees grow they will be a fitting reminder of her time at the port.

Noise updateFive of the houses most affected by port noise have now been insulated, at a total cost of $154,000 as we work our way through the issues involved with the variation to the Nelson Resource Management Plan.

The newly appointed Noise Committee, with representatives from the hillside residents and PNL is meeting regularly, and letters have been sent to the 110 households in the next noise contour, where the costs of mitigation are shared between owners and PNL. A further group of houses, least affected by noise, will be provided with ‘technical advice’, with the Noise Committee deciding where that obligation falls.

The recommendations made by the independent commission-ers are currently under appeal to the Environment Court.

Dust DampeningWhile the dust is not such a problem in winter we are still maintaining the pro-active dampening down of any areas where logs are being worked. We’ve also come up with a plan to save on the cost of the water used by the tanker by installing some rainwater tanks to make the most of the large catchment areas on sheds. Saving rain will be a lot cheaper than using treated water from the city’s Maitai supply.

RePort is Green In line with our environmental policies

RePort uses elemental chlorine free paper produced from sustainably managed forests. RePort is printed with vegetable based inks.


Cawthron scientists get ready for a dive.


Until the Second World War the New Zealand fishery was characterised by little fleets of small owner-operated vessels, supplying local markets from the inshore fishery. As well as supplying local shops, fish from Nelson was shipped to Wellington on the overnight ferry that ran right up until 1953, often with an even fresher catch slung aboard in large baskets at French Pass.

By 1960 there were 21 fishing boats registered in Nelson and 33 full time fishermen. Snapper and Tarakihi, Gurnard and Trevally dominated the catch, as they did in New Zealand’s other inshore fisheries. In the mid-60s the way was open for expansion into deeper waters, and the newly reclaimed land around Port Nelson was just the place to site a fish factory. New Zealand Sea Products Export Ltd was formed in 1965 and was poised to revolutionise fishing in Nelson and beyond. The Harbour Board pulled out the stops to get the reclaimed site ready for the building and even agreed to remit part of the lease until the business was established. Noleen Burton who worked at the factory recalls:

“We all stood on the wharf and watched the two big Sea Harvester trawlers, which had originated in Trondheim Norway, arrive at different times ready to begin. After the arrival of the trawlers, the whole operation began to mushroom, with jubilation at the first overseas sales. All factory staff were allocated a free half pound of fish per family member per week. Smoked fish and fishmeal production began also. The future looked rosy.”

But the firm went into receivership in October 1968. One of the trawlers was bought by the government and became the James Cook research vessel; the premises and equipment were sold to a consortium and one of the trawler skippers, Charles Hufflett, became the managing director of a new company, Sealord Products Limited.

In the mid-1970s government export incentives stimulated the industry, which invested in more and bigger boats. Depth sounders, radar, sonar, and advances in fishing gear added to the size of the catch and the number of fishing companies in Nelson grew. In 1978 a storm arose over the government decision to put a catch limit on Tasman Bay snapper – these had been pair-trawled by Sealord’s Whitby and Fifeshire, and Skeggs’ Waihola and Hawea, gathering quantities that would today be remarkable for the level of exploitation. By the early ‘80s a crisis had developed in the coastal fisheries, but two developments opened up a way forward: the move into deep-sea fisheries and the establishment of a quota management system. Over the next 20 years the fishing industry became one of New Zealand’s biggest export earners and one of Nelson’s biggest employers.

Right now times are tough for the inshore fishing fleet, with diesel prices and the demise of the Tasman Bay scallop enhancement scheme adding to their woes. However, the ability to diversify between tuna, oysters and wetfish on a seasonal basis helps to keep them afloat.

Deep-sea fishing remains a mainstay of the industry, with the hoki season its busiest period. Sealord still has its processing headquarters and most of its administration based in Nelson. Skeggs has now left town, though they still have an interest in aquaculture through Pacifica Seafoods. Other major players are Amaltal and Solander, NZ King Salmon, Talleys in Motueka and Sanford in Havelock. Nelson is still the biggest fishing port in Australasia, but the growth today is towards aquaculture, particularly in the processing of farmed salmon and mussels.

Sources: W H Parr, Port Nelson Gateway to the Sea, 1979; Alec Woods, The Outside Table, 2005; Noleen Burton, www.theprow.org.nz (local history website); Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

A short history of fishing in Nelsonlo

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Fish bones in middens around Nelson testify that pre-European Mäori were into seafood as a protein source, while stones used to weigh beach seines show the sophistication of their catching methods. Once the settlers arrived, fish and oyster saloons were common until these shellfish became the first victim of over-fishing. Commercial fishing was limited by difficulties in storage and transport until 1900 when the Nelson Fishing Company was formed and installed freezing machinery at its new premises at the port. New technology went hand in hand with other changes, such as the development of trawling, as oil-fired vessels became more efficient and replaced coal burning steamers. Part of Nelson's fishing fleet at rest in what they call "the Frog Pond", behind the northern end of the old Main Wharf. c. July, 1974.

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august 2009 report - port · pdf fileaugust 2009 editorial ... marketing manager, chris...

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