Port Nelson puts wharf plans on ice

Cranes operating at the Port of Nelson. Picture / Port Nelson

Port Nelson has shelved a contentious $9 million plan to extend Main Wharf South, in anticipation of a drastic slowdown in cargo moving in and out of the port.

Hard times in Nelson's fishing and horticultural industries, and a sluggish forestry industry, are being blamed for the decision.

The planned 70m extension, which had already been scaled down from an earlier proposal, would have seen the wharf pushed out in front of the public recreation area on Wakefield Quay.

Port Nelson chairman Nick Patterson said the port's latest review had projected cargo growth of just 1 per cent a year over the next 10 years.

This is 18 per cent less growth than was expected when the project was made public in 2002, and 26 per cent less growth than forecast just 12 months ago.

In 2002, it was estimated that 3.2 million tonnes of cargo and 80,000 20-foot-equivalent container units (TEUs) would be passing through the port by 2015. Last year, 3.6 million tonnes was anticipated.

Now it was more likely that 2.65 million tonnes and 63,000 TEUs would be moving through the port in 10 years, Mr Patterson said.

There would be no need for the extended wharf until at least 2015, he said.

But the low growth would not mean the port company would make less money. "It should improve the profitability because in terms of the capital development required for the extension project, it was always going to be hard to justify economically."

Port Nelson has already spent up to $300,000 on planning for the wharf project, which the company has now categorised as "postponed indefinitely".

Port Nelson still plans to reclaim about 2500sq m of land behind the current Main Wharf South berth, at a cost of about $2 million.

- nzpa