December 2009 (pdf) - Port Nelson

December 2009
rePORT
Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
• The year in review
Port News . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
• New harbourmaster craft
SupPORT our Region . . . 4
• Best ever Masked Parade
Port Progress . . . . . . . . . . 5
• Given the Slip
Around the Port . . . . . 6/7
• Choppers land at port
• Worth a thousand words
Our Port Our People . . . 8
• First Line Management Success
Safe Harbour . . . . . . . . . . 9
• Light on Haulashore
Meet the Client . . . . . . . 10
• Reliance Engineering
Environment Update . . .11
• Noise monitor installed
Looking Back . . . . . . . . . 12
• Boulder Bank book launched
HMNzS Pukaki Makes
First Ever Visit To Nelson
Photo: Chris Weissenborn
The third of the New Zealand Navy’s new Inshore Patrol Vessels, HMNZS Pukaki, under the Command of
Lieutenant John McQueen, conducted a very special first ever visit to her homeport region. Pukaki is the
first naval vessel to be affiliated to the top of the south, and was greeted with a powhiri when she arrived
at Port Nelson on 15 October.
During the historic visit the Pukaki was involved in a Charter Parade, the ship was open to the public, and
hosted tours ranging from schools to potential recruits. The Navy Band was in Nelson for the visit and led
the Port Nelson Masked Parade as well as performing in a number of venues around the district.
HMNZS Pukaki is a 340 tonne, 55 metre vessel with a core crew of 20. It is capable of travelling 3000
nautical miles (5556 kilometres) with a top speed of 25 knots, and carries out tasks for Customs and the
Ministry of Fisheries.

Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 2
editorial
At the port company presentation to stakeholders at the end of
September, Chairman Nick Patterson summed up the 2008 - 2009
year and expressed his concerns about the impact of compliance
costs on the results.
Port Nelson Limited paid a dividend of $4m to its shareholders,
the Tasman District and Nelson City Councils for the 2008-09 year.
However, the after-tax profit would have been higher, but for the
steep compliance costs the port faces in dealing with the effects of
noise on port hills’ residents.
The terms of the Noise Variation set by the Environment Court
require us to meet the costs of full or partial noise insulation
treatment for up to eleven homes near the port, and to buy the
most affected homes if the owners decline mitigation treatment.
This cost $1.4m over the past year and reduced the operating
surplus to $4.9m after tax.
Ongoing expenses we face in relation to noise mitigation work
in the coming years will continue to impact on our result and
the return to our shareholders. While we fully understand our
obligations in this area and are committed to meeting them, the
increased compliance costs that organisations such as ours have to
meet are a major concern.
Overall it was a satisfying result for the year with total cargo at
2.755 million tonnes, boosted by log exports to China and increased
imports of fuel and empty containers.
The year in review
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, Jacquetta Bell
The trend towards containerisation of processed wood products
continued and the port exceeded 80,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent
container Units (TEU) for the first time.
The global recession reduced calls from vessels carrying motor
vehicles and steel, and while there were limited changes to the liner
shipping services using the port over the last 12 months we may
face further changes in future.
It is likely Port Nelson and most other ports will continue to see
decisions made by both shipping lines and major exporters that
will have an effect on shipping services around the New Zealand
coast. While such changes are inevitable, they do mean we are
operating in a very tight market and they make further investment
in infrastructure a very uncertain science.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank port customers and
staff for their support throughout the year. I wish you all a safe and
relaxing holiday season with time to enjoy our region in summer
with friends and family.
Nick Patterson
Chairman, Port Nelson Ltd
Briefing the Stakeholders
It was a wild and wet day at the end of September when we invited 200 stakeholders to attend a briefing on our Annual Report at the Nelson
Yacht Club. After an introduction from Chairman Nick Patterson, Martin Byrne gave a comprehensive presentation that put the year’s result
and the current port operation into a wider context of the global recession and trends in the shipping industry. Guests stayed on to enjoy
refreshments and the opportunity to catch up with others in the industry.
Pictured from left: PNL Chairman Nick Patterson, John McLiskie, Heartland Fruit, and Kay McNabb, Nelson Airport. Next photo: Paul Salvador and Tony Pratt from
Westpac with PNL board member Bronwyn Monopoli.

Safe on the Water
Nelson harbour will be a safer place this summer with the
new harbourmaster boat Punawai patrolling the bay. Port
Nelson carries out this role for the Nelson City Council, and
Marine Operations Manager Roy Skucek says the main focus
is on education for boaties, backed up with infringement
notices.
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 3
Last year the patrols were done in the pilot launch, but this year there will be a higher profile with the new boat
bought from funds set aside from pilot exemption certificates. Roy Skucek says the Stabicraft was selected for the
job as the most suitable. It is fitted out with VHF radios and is powered by two Mercury 150hp engines.
Punawai means spring water, and was the name of the old pa site at the bottom of Richardson Street. It is estimated the Punawai will be used for
up to 300 hours each year, mainly in Nelson Harbour, the Blind Channel, Monaco and up to two miles offshore. It will also support Coastguard,
Police, Fire Service, NZ MAF, Customs and DOC. The Punawai will be staffed by our new deputy harbourmaster once that position is filled.
Roy Skucek speaks at the naming ceremony on November 11, attended by iwi representatives, port staff, Mayor Kerry Marshall and Arch Deacon Harvey Ruru who
blessed the craft.
Port New zealand
Port Nelson Ltd is part of a new initiative called Green Port for Black
Boats, being developed to create an eco-friendly environment for
servicing commercial vessels from around New Zealand and further
offshore. These are ‘black boats’ in the industry, while ‘white boats’
are pleasure craft. The aim is to attract boat building, research and
development, aquaculture industries, water remediation and skills
training for the oil and gas industry. The theme of sustainability
will govern how the growth takes place and what industries can
participate.
We have formed a marketing consortium with selected local
companies to begin building the brand around this green port
initiative. This consortium is called Port New
Zealand Ltd, and the initial participants are
Challenge New Zealand, Kernohan Engineering,
Port Nelson Ltd and Unimar. This brings
together our own capabilities, such as the layup
berths and the tugs, with the facilities and skills
of these engineering companies.
The port’s central location within New Zealand,
our climate, marine and industrial services, new
facilities and skilled personnel for repairs, refits,
demobilisation and upgrades are part of the
reason we chose Port New Zealand as the brand
to market this regional initiative offshore.
Management Review
Port Nelson Ltd has carried out a review to ensure we have the right
structure in place to meet the challenges we face in the port industry.
Marine Operations has now become part of the Port Logistics team
and falls under the overall responsibility of Digby Kynaston as
Port Logistics Manager. This change fits firmly in line with our aim
to create a port wide operational division including Stevedoring,
Cargo Logistics, and Marine Operations.
The other major change was the decision to re-allocate a number
of key responsibilities around customer liaison and marketing.
Contract negotiations with shipping lines are now handled by
the Port Logistics Manager in conjunction with the
CEO Martin Byrne. Business development initiatives
are handled by the Chief Commercial Officer Parke
Pittar, again in conjunction with the CEO. We will be
appointing a Marketing Representative to service
the importers and exporters of the region and to
further expand our presence with someone ‘out in
the field’.
The executive team is now made up of Martin Byrne,
CEO; Melisa Kappely, Employee Relations Manager;
Digby Kynaston, Port Logistics Manager; Matt
McDonald, Infrastructure Manager; and Parke Pittar,
Chief Commercial Officer.
port news

Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 4
supPORTing our region
Charity Golf
It was a big day out for colleagues in our industry when we
played our annual Nelson Port and Transport Industry Charity Golf
Tournament on November 19 at the Nelson Golf Club. There was a
great turnout from shipping lines, agents, stevedores, logistics and
transport sectors; some great golf was played and the 19th hole
was particularly convivial! It is the second year that the Port Nelson
Mission to Seafarers has been the selected charity to benefit from
this event.
The money raised this year will go in the bank, added to the $12,000
the tournament raised last year. This gives the Mission a tidy capital
sum that is generating enough interest to cover everyday running
costs. Manager, Milo Coldren and his team of volunteers have made
the Nelson Mission one of the best in the world, with free coffee,
biscuits and internet access.
Over the last five years these tournaments have raised in excess of
$42,000 for local charities.
Darryl Hamilton takes a drive for the Hamburg Sud team, watched by Simon Edwards,
Peter Anderson and Matthew Hewitt.
Jazz in the Parks
It’s summer and that means it’s time for the Woollaston Nelson Jazz
& Blues Festival – or it will be, come the New Year. We are pleased
to be backing Port Nelson Jazz & Blues in the Parks, with a regional
spread from Fairfield Park to the Village Green in Takaka. Expect
to see some hot acts in these concerts, with some of the foremost
musicians in their fields from New Zealand, the States and the UK.
In the Woods
We were pleased to assist with
support of the annual Forest &
Wood Conference, held this year
in Nelson at Seifrieds Vineyards.
It was an opportunity for our
staff to catch up with many
of the movers and shakers in
the industry from around New
Zealand and even further afield.
As nearly half of our total cargo
tonnage is forestry product, this sector is extremely important to
Port Nelson now and into the future, and it was very encouraging
to see the conference reflecting increasing co-ordination across the
sector in both processing and forestry.
The focus was on global trends, the current trading environment
and the challenges and opportunities this presents. There was also
a field day of visits to Nelson forests and tours, including four buses
of visitors to Port Nelson.
Rags to Riches
Upper Moutere’s Sunrise Cleaning Services won the Port Nelson
Large Business Award and the Westpac Supreme Award at this year’s
Westpac Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce Awards. Bruce Farley
and his wife Phillipa Rutherford are joint owners of Sunrise Cleaning
Services and of the Chandrakirti Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre
in Upper Moutere. Sunrise Cleaning is a rags-to-riches story, with
Bruce having gone from being a one man business with his home
vacuum cleaner, to employing 110 staff and servicing 80 commercial
clients including many of the region's largest companies. The
awards are the biggest event in the region's business calendar and
provide a real incentive for
business excellence from the
emerging level upwards.
Rod Fox and Dot Kettle from
the Nelson Tasman Chamber
of Commerce flank Phillipa
Rutherford and Bruce Farley
from Sunrise Cleaning and
Digby Kynaston representing
Port Nelson.
Parade
‘best ever’
The Port Nelson Masked Parade that launched the Nelson Arts
Festival in October was a triumph of creativity and optimism,
forging ahead amidst wet weather into a sunny evening where
Nelson was at its best – children shone, music played and
people danced in the street. The parade this year was a
tribute to its founder Kim Merry, who died in August. Festival
creative director Annabel Norman said the parade was a
fitting commemoration to Kim and the value he placed on the
community celebrating together.
“Thanks to the support of Port Nelson Limited, and the schools
and other groups who put in so much effort it was a wonderful
tribute and showed the special legacy Kim has left us: Nelson
has an event with a unique spirit – something money just
can’t buy.” Record crowds attended the parade and stayed on
afterwards to dance in the streets at the carnivale.
Safety and Training Officer Jim Lane
speaks to the conference delgates as they
visit our timber storage and packing area.
Photo: Harold Mason

Slicing Through the Mud
Have you ever tried one of those fairground games where you have
to land a suspended hoop onto a narrow-topped block? The problem
is that the hoop is bumped sideways by the block and swings off to
the side. Something similar happens when the suction bucket on the
dredge Kawatiri strikes a pinnacle on the harbour floor.
We are about to trial a mud slicer to deal to the pinnacle problem,
that is a modified design of a similar device used at the Port of
Lyttelton. The eight metre wide steel blade of the mud slicer is
designed to knock off the pinnacles that are left after dredging. We
will suspend it underneath the tug Huria Matenga and accurately
adjust the height of the device to slice into the mud pinnacles,
pushing the mud into nearby deeper water, until we achieve the
desired depth.
It will be used a couple of days at a time, and may only need to be
called out twice a year after dredging.
Paving the Way
We have just embarked on strengthening and resurfacing 5,100sq
metres of the Container Yard, near Shed #3. The is the fourth year we
have tackled this staged upgrade, giving us a durable surface for heavy
duty machinery. The half million dollar project involves digging down
to 600mm, replacing the excavated material mixed with cement, and
resurfacing with a polymer modified flexible asphalt.
Given the Slip
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 5
Our two tugs WH Parr and Huria Matenga were put on the slip in September for their survey inspection and Safe Ship Management Certificate
renewal. The weather behaved while staff and contractors spent several feverish days blasting, painting and carrying out repairs on both
vessels. The tugs’ hulls were cleaned and painted, their propellers were removed so they could be cleaned and balanced, various other work
was done, then there was an inspection that covered everything from fire fighting equipment to navigation
lights. The two tugs were slipped one at a time and Centre Port’s tug Ngahue came over from Wellington
to cover our shipping work.
▲
While our tugs have propellers at the back, the Ngahue pulls from the stern, with
all the manoeuvres in reverse, in a system called indirect towing.
No Luffing Matter
A head for heights was
needed by the team from
our workshop when they
tackled the task of replacing
the luffing cylinder on one
of the Liebherr cranes. There
had been some concern from
the Austrian suppliers about
the integrity of this part, and
several have been replaced
around the world. The luffing
cylinder is the hydraulic arm
that picks up the boom. It
weighs six tonnes, and is 20 metres off the ground. The trickiest part
of the job was getting the old hinge pin out, which was achieved by
lancing it with gas to melt the steel then pressing the pin out. It was
a six day job, but the new cylinder went in without a hitch and the
crane was ready for action before the next ship arrived.
port progress

Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 6
around the port...
Disaster Recovery
If we had a fire in our server room, a leaky pipe or a malicious break-in, our
business would grind to a halt and our ICT systems could be out of action for
weeks. To avoid this we now have an offsite Disaster Recovery Centre, where
core applications such as email and the operating application, Jade, will
have a near-live copy running at the Gen-i office in Waimea Road to keep us
operational. Senior Business Analyst Hugh Stark says if a disaster happened
the wireless network switches would interrupt the current network and
re-point everything up to Gen-i, where a copy of our server can be running
within seconds. The plan is to add the other major systems that cover payroll,
financials and so on to the server at the Disaster Recovery Centre.
Hugh Stark and Gen-I Senior Systems Engineer Carl Snelgrove with the Port Nelson server
in Gen-i’s windowless, double-skin concrete Disaster Recovery Centre. The silver box is the
new server, while the black box above it is the tape copy system.
Photo: Mark Harrison and Jaimie Baird
More Naval Action
HMNZS Manawanui visited Port Nelson in September after completing navigation training in
the Marlborough Sounds. The training was part of the ship’s build up towards Electronic Chart
Accreditation. Manawanui arrived in Nelson via French Pass, a first for many onboard including
the Lieutenant Commander Phil Rowe, who says there was some tight timing involved.
“French Pass is infamous throughout New Zealand and can be a treacherous piece of
water with tidal streams of up to 8 knots, timing is crucial and there is only a 10-15 minute
window to pass through,” he said. “Everyone, including myself was on tenterhooks but our
planning paid off and we transited with ease.”
During the visit to Nelson Manawanui hosted a visit from the local Sea Cadet Unit, TS
Talisman. Fourteen cadets visited the ship and were given a tour and afternoon tea.
Chopper Landing
Helicopters usually land from the air – but in early November six Sea Sprites landed at Port Nelson from the Tasman Chief. The older style
choppers were quickly lifted for a road trip to Woodbourne Air Base, where they will be used for ground crew training. They had been
customs cleared in Auckland, but had a brief MAF inspection in Nelson just like any other used vehicle, and will be fully cleared by MAF once
they are unwrapped in Blenheim. The unloading involved Smith Cranes and DHL who handled the logistics.

Worth a Thousand Words
Cap Capricorn in the Cut
The Cap Capricorn made her first entrance through the Cut, back in
mid-August. She is now a regular caller as the shipping line Hamburg
Sud’s contribution to the North Asia Vessel Sharing Agreement that
replaced the COSCO service to Nelson. The other vessels on this
service are NYK line’s ACX Diamond and MOL’s JPO Leo. These are
all in excess of 220m and are among the largest ships calling at
Port Nelson.
Major Jade upgrade
We expect to save an hour and half every day in staff time with
our move to the latest Jade cargo control software. Currently
three moves have to be logged in for a container that comes into
the port full, comes back empty and is refilled. The new system
reduces this to just one event and saves a lot of data entry time.
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 7
They’re energised
Nick is third from right, facing the camera
with both thumbs up.
Every picture tells a story and this one more
than most. The young girls are in rowing club
chase boats, and had been doing their usual
practice when they found a stranded dusky
dolphin on the sand bar near the Boulder Bank
baches. The Tasman District Council Harbourmaster
called Port Nelson and the pilot boat
was used to take DOC staff out to assist. The
ranger with the rifle is explaining to the girls
that it was too late to save the dolphin.
A cold, wet tent shared
with nine others, early
morning PT and a
swim in the Sounds did
nothing to deter the
latest staff members we
sent on the Outward
Bound eight day
Navigators’ Course.
Stevedore Nick Brinsley
says if he saw the details
in a holiday brochure,
he wouldn’t book the
holiday, but he came
back fully energised.
“Rather than just having my batteries recharged it was more like
a new set of much higher tech batteries,” he says. “I also returned
feeling wiser and richer and I have some new goals to focus on.”
A few weeks later Hayden Grainger from Cargo Operations was off
on the same course. He says he was surprised to find fitness was not
the challenge – it was more the intense personal development.
“In the group situation and as an individual they really challenge
you,” he says. “I think
I came out of it with a
much better understanding
of myself and
a better understanding
of other people and the
differences we all have.”
Every year we send two
staff members to attend
this course, which focuses
on the core skills to lead a
team effectively.
...and beyond

our port our people
Study Success
Going ‘back to school’ may have been a little daunting at first, but
QuayPack Supervisor Andy Farmer and Security Gate Operator
Kamelia Chapman did well and finished up pleased with the outcome
of their nine month course of study at NMIT for the National
Certificate in First Line Management. Most of the study for the nine
modules was done online, and topics ranged from business writing
to time management.
Kamelia says she found the time management skills useful in fitting
in her work on the course: “Writing things down and planning ahead
were also useful recently to get everything done when I stood in for
Security Supervisor Bill Homan while he was overseas.”
Andy says the team building and conflict resolution skills have
already come in handy: “It’s good to nip any conflict in the bud –
turning a blind eye certainly won’t help it to get any better,” he says.
Andy and Kamelia are both keen to take their study further.
QuayPack
Goes Calling
When you spend your days
packing MDF into containers
it’s nice to know where it came
from. To give the QuayPack
team more ‘product knowledge’,
Nelson Pine Industries Despatch
Manager Warran Clark ran a site
tour for them in November.
QuayPack Supervisor Andy
Farmer says it’s the second
time his team have visited NPIL.
The last time was a couple of
years ago, and the recent trip
was for new players on the port
container packing team.
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 8
Staff Briefs
• In July we marked the end of an era with a farewell morning
tea for Tony Graham and Neville Clark who have held the
watchman-security role since the days the Port Nelson flag was
raised at the start of each working day.
• Congratulations and best wishes to Tina Rajino on her marriage
to Andrew Maxwell in late July. Tina and Andrew tied the knot
in Fiji and to celebrate staff enjoyed a girl’s night out at The Free
House prior to Tina’s big day.
• Marine Operations Manager and Harbourmaster Roy Skucek
will be leaving us in January. Roy took over from long-serving
Harbourmaster Captain John Westbrooke in 2006 and says
while his three years with PNL have been challenging, it has also
been interesting being involved in changes at the port.
• We farewelled Chris Williams at the end of September. Chris had
been with us as Marketing Manager since 2004 and worked
hard to maintain shipping options for our clients in times of
major change from the lines servicing regional ports.
Silver for Les
Les Gill from Cargo Operations is the latest staff member to join
that exclusive club of staff who have worked at the port for 25
years or more. Les grew up in Invercargill, moving to Nelson in
1982 and soon after got a job on the suction dredge Karatea,
as the Maitai reclamation took shape. Next, Les took on the role
of caring for the newly created land, laying lawns and planting
shrubs around Akersten Street and the Marina back in the days
when the Harbour Board was in control of this area.
Les has had a hand in many milestones at the port, such as packing
the first MDF in containers, laying the groundwork for what is
now QuayPack. He recalls a time when he and Phil Francois were
the only staff at the Container Yard and all the documentation
was done by hand – before the advent of computers.
For the last five years Les has run our Quarantine Facility,
devanning hi-risk containers and calling in the MAF team if he
finds contamination or wildlife! Les takes the responsibility of this
job seriously and looks back at a working life that has provided
him with an income, stability and the company of a ‘good
bunch of guys’.
Les brings the total number of ‘silver servers’ to 13 - the longevity
of service in our team is testimony to staff commitment and the
enjoyment our people take in their work.

Health Checks
Sitting all day in a forklift can be hard on your
back, but our drivers now have a range of tips
to avoid pain associated with long sits. Earlier
in the year Nikola Huntingford, an Occupational
Therapist with Ramazzini, carried out ergonomic
assessments focussed on maximising operator
comfort, efficiency, safety and ease of use.
Drivers were wised up on the importance of
micropauses, muscle stretches, and improved
positioning of head, neck, trunk and limbs.
Chris Growcott took the tips on short breaks and
stretching exercises to heart, and keeps the info in the
cab of his hi-stacker as a reminder.
Coastguard to
the Rescue
We were pleased to provide the
Coastguard Service with a safe area to
train boat operators and to offer the
help of our training officer Jim Lane in
the pilot vessel.
The day was a great success, with 12
students passing the course. Those
involved felt it was worthwhile, and
the class is likely to be repeated for
Coastguard and for Sea Scouts.
Coordinator Milo Coldren says it’s
encouraging to see the emphasis on
training to improve safety for youth.
Keeping Safe
Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 9
Light on Haulashore
▲
Handling the Lines
This graphic representation indicates
where the light will be placed. It will be
ten metres above ground and the pole
will be made of wood, to better blend
with the environment. The route of the
cable is indicated in yellow, but it will be
trenched to low water mark.
It’s not exactly traffic lights, but it will tell boaties when they need to stay clear of the Cut. We are in resource consent stage prior to installing
a ‘stop-go’ light on Haulashore Island. This is part of the harbourmaster’s response to the recommendation in the port’s navigational risk
assessment for ‘greater attention to the management of recreational activity and conflicts between commercial and recreational craft’. The
light will be seen from a pole, to be erected on the northern side of Haulashore Island and will flash red when a large vessel movement is
imminent and then turn to fixed red to indicate the Cut is closed to all craft other than the large vessel and assisting tugs. After consultation
with iwi and environmental groups it was decided rather than digging the cable in across Haulashore, it would be run on the seabed from
Wakefield Quay.
Eight new line handlers joined our Marine Services at the end of July. Initial training
covered all aspects of hazard identification and safety procedures around line handling,
the practical side of the job and the context of wider port operations. The line handlers
have now been on the job for four months and are confident in their work.
We 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.
From left are
Pat Bevernage,
Rutene Cooper,
Glen Bisdee,
Andrew Rankin,
Alan Baumgart,
Bob Huggins,
Jim Tompkins
and Neil
McArtney.
safe harbour

Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 10
connections
A company we RELY on
“The fundamentals at Reliance are very good with a strong team-based culture that is a credit to the effort
put in over the years from guys like our Works Manager Kim Harris,” Andrew Gray, General Manager says.
“We are a very traditional family-type engineering business with a number of loyal and long standing
customer relationships, good skills and quality, and strong business ethics.”
Reliance Engineering’s connection with Port Nelson Limited goes back
many years. Right now, under a new ‘helmsman’, Reliance is looking to
build on the strong relationship between the two companies as it
begins to unfold some meaty growth plans for the future.
Andrew Gray and Kim Harris with the
new mud slicer, under construction in
the Reliance workshop.
The business was acquired last year by the Challenge New Zealand
Group, which has three other port based companies under its
umbrella: Fluid Power Solutions, Challenge Marine, and McBride
Design. The four businesses work independently in various sectors
of engineering (land based, marine, hydraulics and design), each with
its own management team responsible for the strategic direction of
their business unit.
Andrew Gray was appointed as General Manager for Reliance earlier
this year. He has lived in Nelson for five years, contracting to the Pike
River Coal scheme on the West Coast for the past three years.
Andrew says he came into a company where the existing management
team had created a sound platform, and the last six months have
seen a lot of intensive planning and work on strategies for growing
the business over the next 10 to 15 years.
The North Cardinal
Beakon was fabricated for
Port Nelson by Reliance
Engineering in 2006.
Andrew rates the port company as an ‘A-Class’ client, and says
Reliance staff work closely with the port infrastructure team and
have developed a high level of trust. There are not many weeks
where Reliance has not got a project on the go for Port Nelson – they
recently constructed a mud slicer that will be suspended under the
tug Huria Matenga to take pinnacles of material off the sea floor in
the shipping channels. (Read more in Port Progress on page 5.)
The future looks bright for Reliance: “We are very excited about the
next few years, this year we are working hard on priming the business
for the future, bedding down our plan and aligning that with Group
objectives,” Andrew says. “We are making sure our management
systems are robust, and building on our capacity and capabilities.”
Andrew says the strong relationship with Port Nelson will be
increasingly important in the future, as the port is a critical part of the
company’s growth plan to attract new engineering opportunities to
the region and access potential markets throughout New Zealand
and overseas.

Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 11
Fighting Marine Pests
▲
The potential for pest species to harm the unique marine
environment of the top of the South Island is being minimised
through the work of a new partnership between central and
local government, the eight Iwi of the area, community and
industry interests. This collaboration, the Top of the South
Marine Biosecurity Partnership, was launched in Nelson
in September and is a pilot programme funded by MAF
Biosecurity New Zealand and local councils. They’ve contracted
Mincher Campbell Limited to tackle coordination and advocacy.
Coordinator Russ Mincher says the first job is to identify the
high-value areas to protect, develop surveillance programmes
to look out for new marine pests and begin to identify activities
that pose a risk of spreading marine pests. Russ says it’s vital
local boat owners keep the hulls of moored boats clean and
well anti-fouled. And boaties are asked to report anything unusual
they see out there to MAF’s pest and disease hotline: 0800 80 99 66.
New dredging consent
The Kawatiri was in Nelson to do our annual maintenance dredging
in October, the first visit since we obtained our new consents, which
requires considerably more sampling and testing than in the past.
The new consents for dredging and disposal of spoil are for a period
of 30 years, giving us much more certainty on maintaining the
navigation channels to their required depth.
The tests included hopper sediment sampling from three areas
inside and outside the Cut, which was done by the dredge crew,
using sampling containers supplied by Cawthron with the material
then tested at the Cawthron laboratory.
Cawthron scientists (photo below) also went out to the spoil disposal
ground in their boat and followed the discharge plume after the
dredge had disposed
of a hopper load. They
ran tests for particles,
smell and appearance
of the water quality.
Cawthron also tested
sediment samples from
within the dredging
areas.
Stepping to Awareness
The old Indian saying about walking in someone else’s moccasins holds
true for crane drivers – it’s hard to fathom just what their job entails,
without seeing them in action. The Port Noise Liaison Committee was
offered this opportunity after their September meeting, when they
made a trip to Main Wharf South and climbed up to the crane cabin
to see what’s involved in trying to land a container quietly – when you
can’t always see it or the space it’s to go in, when the wind is blowing
and when you are dependent on a guy with an RT in the ship’s hold
acting as your eyes and ears. The members of the committee got a new
understanding of what it takes to make container handling a quiet
operation, the skills of the drivers and the rest of the stevedoring crew,
and the lengths they take to keep the operation as quiet as possible.
Noise committee chairman Bob Dickinson and residents’ rep Bruce Robinson at the
top of the crane.
A diver filming during a survey of
‘wildlife’ on port piles.
letters to homeowners
and have about 35 who
have requested more
information, and some
have requested further
mitigation work.
The feedback from
residents’ reps on
the Noise Liaison
Committee is very
positive about the
process we are working
through. We now have
a continuous noise
monitor up and running
to provide us with
valuable information
about how much noise
Noise update
We are making progress on meeting the
terms of the Noise Variation adopted
by the Nelson City Council last year,
and working with residents on the full
or partial noise insulation treatment
for homes near the port. To date we
have bought three of the most affected
homes where the owners elected to sell.
These homes have now been treated
to mitigate noise and two have resold.
There has been progress on noise
treatment now with 8 out of the 11
most affected homes. In the next tier, of
less affected homes, we have sent 110
Workshop Supervisor Craig Terris with
the new noise monitor that has just been
installed on the cement silo.
we are actually making, with the hope being that this will allow us to
more effectively manage noise at source.
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.
environment update

Port Nelson Limited report. December 2009. Page 12
looking back
Rolling Stones on the Boulder Bank
From its place in Maori myth to the ongoing debate about how the bank was formed, local
writer Karen Warren has captured the many facets of the Boulder Bank in a new book with
the catchy title Rolling Stones - Nelson's Boulder Bank, Its Place in our History and Hearts.
Photo:
Nelson Provincial Museum,
Copy Collection, C182.
Karen reveals that our Boulder Bank is the largest of any such
naturally occurring landform in the world; it is longer than England’s
Chesil Beach and the Amanohashidate that spans Miyazu Bay in our
Japanese sister city.
Karen says the book, her first, grew out of her own fascination with
the Boulder Bank.
“For those of us who live in Nelson it is easy to take its embrace for
granted, content in the sheltering protection it gives as we enjoy
the marine playground of Nelson Haven,” she says. “In this book
I have set out to provide a broad picture of the physical nature
and characteristics of the Boulder Bank, the impact of Maori and
European settlers, and how the Boulder Bank itself has influenced
our history.”
Boulder Bank Bill
The story of Boulder Bank Bill is one of many tales documented in
Rolling Stones. Bill Clark was a retired Scottish seaman who became
known as Boulder Bank Bill. Karen quotes from a feature on Boulder
Bank Bill printed in the Nelson Evening Mail in 1994, when he was 83
years old and had lived on the Bank for 37 or 38 years. He bought his
bach for £35, but had never intended to stay on the Boulder Bank:
“It was to be a refuge … But as I got older I got lazier and everything
got easier. I would not go back to town now… When I first arrived
this place was a terrible shack. An open fire with water running down
walls made from all sorts of rubbish. I’ve got a world of my own here
The stories of the people who lived on the
Boulder Bank include the keepers of the
lighthouse, documented in Karen Warren’s new
book, Rolling Stones.
– sometimes too much so. But it’s a home. In a house all you want is
comfort, convenience, warmth, food, and a good bed.
“Some people are afraid of high seas covering us, but it doesn’t worry
me. The Bank goes down a long, long way. In any case, it’s warmer
here in winter with no frosts. That’s something I notice when I go over
to Nelson. It’s really cold sometimes. The sea makes things warmer.”
It was not a luxurious life by any means. There was no electricity and
the freshwater supply was from water off the roof. The Mail noted:
“His hardboard floors are bare, his bed built of strips of wood nailed
together and fixed to the wall in the corner of the bedroom.”
Bill recalled how, when he was younger, overseas ships used to throw
their dunnage overboard. This provided him with a ready supply of
wood for his fireplace but the practice later died out. He typically
had large stacks of chopped driftwood piled outside his home.
For many years he regularly rowed ashore to buy his supplies and
socialise. He kept an old bike at the port to use as transport and
he would cycle around to collect his groceries, source new library
books, visit the RSA and carry out any other errands. He later got an
outboard motor for his dinghy to make life a little easier.
Rolling Stones – Nelson’s Boulder Bank has full colour illustrations
throughout its 320 pages. There are many historic photos, and
contemporary shots by Karen’s husband, John Warren. The book is
published by Nikau Press and is available at Nelson bookstores for
$75. For more info contact the publisher nikau@ts.co.nz.