Storage tanks being barged from Northland to Bay of Plenty

Three more tanks are being barged from Culham Engineering's Whangārei yard to Tauranga. Photo / Arlene Baldwin

A weather window with calm seas was the perfect opportunity to barge three massive chemical storage tanks from Northland to Tauranga.

The barge with the tanks was spotted cruising passed Onerahi on Monday, towed by a tug.

It is the third of five shipments, and a total of eight storage tanks destined for the Bay of Plenty manufactured at Culham Engineering's Hewlett Rd site.

Culham Engineering managing director Rob Kirwan said the first stainless steel silo to be used for chemical storage was transported to Mt Maunganui on a barge in September.

He said as the transformation of the Wynyard Quarter on Auckland's waterfront continued and the bulk storage terminal was dismantled, other places such as Tauranga were being established as storage sites instead.

The area in Auckland was being transformed into a public space in time for the 36th America's Cup.

The barge trip to Tauranga would take about 24 hours if weather conditions remained favourable.

Work on the tanks, the largest measuring 15m high, began prior to the Covid-19 pandemic but had stopped during lockdown.

Kirwan said the biggest tank they had done was for Ballance in Whangārei which was 36m high and weighed 400 tonnes.