Napier Port smashes cargo record

At five million tonnes, the port has set a new record for cargo handling, chief executive Todd Dawson says. Photo / Warren Buckland

Booming log, paper and apple exports have helped Napier Port smash its all-time cargo handling record, with the equivalent of 140 shipping containers leaving the port every day.

Latest figures for Napier Port's end of financial year show port facilities handled a total of five million tonnes of cargo over the last 12 months.

"If you can imagine 30 Ovation of the Seas cruise liners stacked on top of each other – that's how much cargo we've shipped over the year," Napier Port chief executive Todd Dawson said.

"It's a massive record for Napier Port."

The milestone represents a 6.4 per cent increase on 2017 - an additional 300,000 tonnes of imports and exports crossed Napier Port's wharves during the year.

Of the five million tonnes, 60 per cent was bulk cargo including logs, fertiliser and oil products. It has been a strong year for log exports in particular, with the Port handling a record 2.2 million tonnes of logs – a 37 per cent increase on last year.

Napier Port also broke a number of new records, shipping 13.5 million cartons of apples and 480,000 tonnes of wood pulp, for the year ended September.

Napier Port is a hive of activity. Photo / File

Port Pack, the Port's on-site packing facility, also set a new record - packing more than 51,000 TEU (20ft container equivalents) of pulp and processed timber products for the year ended September 30.

That was the equivalent of 140 containers a day.

"This has been a strong year for Napier Port, and Hawke's Bay economy as a whole," Dawson said.

As well as the cargo milestone, Napier Port will soon enter its busiest summer season, with a record 72 cruise calls scheduled starting from Labour Weekend.