Investing in infrastructure
Port of Tauranga heads to the Environment Court in early March to seek resource consent to extend its existing wharves adjacent to existing port operations.
The project involves dredging 1.5 million cubic metres of sand and silt from the harbour floor to allow vessels to berth at the new wharves.
This compares to the previous dredging project in 2015, which involved 6 million cubic metres dredged to deepen the entire shipping channel to prepare for larger ships.
Port of Tauranga Chief Executive, Leonard Sampson, says the investment is vital to preserve access to international markets for importers and exporters in the Bay of Plenty and beyond.
“The development is critical for New Zealand Inc and is becoming increasingly urgent if we are to avoid ongoing supply chain congestion,” he says.
Together with the berth extension, Port of Tauranga plans to intensify container storage capacity within the existing footprint through its planned automated stacking crane project.