Bay Harbour: July 26, 2017

PAGE 14 Wednesday July 26 2017
BAY HARBOUR
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Your Local Views
Port strategy needed
Lyttelton
makes no environmental sense
Port should
to degrade multiple harbours to
be part of
duplicate big ship-capable ports
a national
around the country. Yet that’s
port strategy
what’s happening, with ports
writes Green
competing with each other and
MP Eugenie
each dredging their local harbour
Sage
to handle these massive container
Environment Canterbury’s ships.
recent granting of resource
The Port of Tauranga has deepened
its shipping channel. Port
consents for the Lyttelton Port
Company’s proposed harbour Otago is doing the same. The Port
dredging highlights the need for a of Napier plans a $100 million port, handling over 15 per cent of
national strategy for our ports and upgrade. Wellington’s Centreport New Zealand’s imports and exports
coastal shipping.
plans to dredge Wellington harbour.
Lyttelton is a potential “hub”.
and nine per cent of our exports,
The dredging would widen
the existing shipping channel We need a national port strategy
which identifies “hub” ports Whakaraupō is to be sacrificed for
If Lyttelton Harbour/
to 200m, deepen it to up to 18m
and extend it several kilometres capable of handling bigger ships more international shipping, then
beyond the harbour entrance. The and second-tier “feeder” ports a national port strategy should
project will involve months of which support them and move help protect harbours elsewhere
dredging with the sediments being
dumped in a 1250ha area off And we need more government changes to wave processes which
cargo between them.
from the sediment plumes and
Godley Head.
support for New Zealand coastal extensive dredging causes.
LPC wants a deeper and wider shipping.
ECan’s decision was disappointing
in not including an enforce-
shipping channel so that supersized
container ships, up to 350m moved around New Zealand is able consent condition which
Only 15 per cent of freight
long and carrying the equivalent carried by sea. Domestic freight required LPC to develop and
of 8000 to 10,000 containers, can volumes are forecast to more than implement a plan to enhance and
access the port at any state of the double by 2040.
restore mahinga kai in the harbour.
Instead the ECan panel said
tide.
Moving goods by sea reduces
These ships are nearly twice the heavy truck movements, roading
costs, and road congestion. mote the health of Whakaraupō
it trusted LPC to protect and pro-
size of container ships currently
using the port.
It improves safety and reduces in partnership with Ngāi Tahu.
It is a poor use of investment greenhouse gas emissions.
The community will be watching
capital and ratepayer funds and As New Zealand’s third largest closely.
Firefighters welcomed to brigade
AKAROA VOLUNTEER Fire
Brigade recently welcomed five
new members.
Dave Hyatt, Calum Bryan,
Blake Thomson, Ronnie
Thornley and Jed Hickey
completed a seven-day recruit
course at the Woolston Training
Centre.
Their addition brings brigade
numbers to 27, including frontline
firefighters, operational and
brigade support.
Their seven-day course was
action-packed.
Recruits were taught safety,
health and wellbeing, risk management
and safe person
concepts, incident ground
skills, hose skills, knots and
lines, pump and ladder skills,
introduction to fire behaviour,
methods of extinguishing,
breathing apparatus, general rescue,
hazardous substances, and
entry techniques – all packed
into a week.
“It is a very proud moment
for the firefighter passing the
NEW
RECRUITS:
Akaroa’s
newest
firefighters
are Dave
Hyatt, Calum
Bryan, Blake
Thomson,
Ronnie
Thornley and
Jed Hickey. ​
gruelling seven-day course but it
is also a very proud moment for
family and the brigade,” secretary
Sonya Watts said.
The brigade celebrates its
140th year of service to the
Akaroa and bays community
this year.
Prepare for summer
Gary Manch is on
leave for the next
month and Jim
Dilley, regional
harbourmaster,
will be stepping
into his shoes in
the meantime.
This week, he
encourages
boaties to get
prepared for
summer
I can’t believe we let Gary
Manch, our navigation safety
officer, take a break when he
has such a great job in the first
place. While he is away, I will
try to keep you informed about
what’s happening on the waters
around Banks Peninsula.
Now that winter is here it’s
actually a great time to do
those jobs on the boat you have
been putting off. Change the
fuel filters, service the engine,
tidy up the electrics, and check
the lifejackets (and service
them if they are the inflatable
kind). If it’s done now it will
mean you can head out on
the first day of boating with
confidence.
Our focus this coming summer
is to let people know that
it’s best to take two separate
means of communication with
you when you go boating. It
might be a VHF radio, a cell
phone (in a waterproof bag),
flares, an EPIRB (emergency
beacon) or even a whistle. At the
end of the day if you can’t tell
someone you need help then no
one will come and help. Think
about where you are going to
boat and what may be the best
choices for your type of boating.
We are trying to make more
OLD: There’s been an
increase in the number of
boats being abandoned in
Lyttelton Harbour. ​
Cabin Boy’s Corner
space for people to moor boats.
As part of this, we are proposing
to add up to 15 moorings
at both Purau Bay and Cass/
Corsair Bays. We would like
hear from you if you feel there
may be any issues with members
of the public being able to
moor additional boats in these
areas. Please let me know your
thoughts directly by emailing
harbourmaster@ecan.govt.nz
or phone our moorings officer
on 328 9162.
Other happenings around
the harbour have included an
increase in the number of old
boats being abandoned. As
boats become old, maintenance
becomes costly or the boat just
gets too old and we end up
having to deal with the vessel.
Where an owner cannot be
found, we remove and dispose
of the vessel. In some cases,
we can find a person willing to
take on the boat. In other cases
the boat is beyond saving or no
one is interested. It’s sad to see
once fine boats heading south
but everything comes to the
end of its life at some point.
On a closing note, for those
of you who enjoy boating, there
is a great group called The Little
Ships Club. This group provides
a great series of regular talks
and articles on all aspects of
boating. They meet at the Naval
Point Club each month and I
thoroughly recommend going
to a talk or two. I certainly
learn something new each time
and enjoy hearing about the
different types of boating adventures
people get up to. You
can find out more at www.
littleshipclubcanterbury.
wordpress.com.
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