National Recognises urgent need for a maritime dry dock

Media Release

02 October 2020

National Party recognises the of urgent need for a new maritime dry dock

NZ Shipping Federation congratulates the National Party for its commitment to the construction of a maritime dry dock at NorthPort.

“A 250 metre dry dock, capable of servicing vessels trading in New Zealand, is the missing piece of New Zealand’s transport infrastructure jigsaw,” Clive Glover, President, NZ Shipping Federation, said today.

“This is not a political issue.It is common sense.All political parties should be supporting this.”

“Having a dry dock in New Zealand would save on the fuel consumed travelling overseas, which is obviously good for the environment and also save time and money for ship operators.It will mean that ships hulls can be easily inspected, repaired and cleaned without having to make a long and costly return voyage to Singapore of Sydney.”

“Investing in a dry dock is a smart use of taxpayers’ money and it will pay off as a financial investment.It would also benefit the environment as it will ensure that international ships with fouled hulls have an out-of-water option for cleaning, rather than doing it in-water at the 12-mile limit.”

The dry dock is expected to be a major employer in Whangarei, both during construction and when in operation, creating hundreds of skilled jobs.

Mr Glover said that the Federation will continue to work with Ministers and officials to make the dry dock a reality.

Contact points for the Federation are:

Clive Glover, Presidentclive.glover@straitnz.co.nz027 444 4284

Annabel Young, Executive Directorannabel.young@shipfed.co.nz021 429 216

Key facts about dry docks

• Ships that are over 500 GT are subject to strict international rules, known as the SOLAS rules.Under these rules, the 5 Cook Strait ferries have to be in dry dock at least every 36 months.Non-passenger ships have to be in dry dock at least twice in every 5 years.Between dry docking, ships are subject to in-water inspections which could be done in a dry dock if one was available.
• The dry docks in New Zealand are too small for most of the ships working in New Zealand waters.
  • The nearest adequate dry dock is in Sydney but it is increasingly difficult to get bookings in that dock due to the expansion of the Australian Navy.Sydney is approximately 3 days away by sea.
  • The alternative dry dock to Sydney is Singapore.It takes 2 weeks to sail each way.
• In addition to NZ coastal ships, there is demand in NZ for a dock coming from:
  • Ships working on the east coast of Australia which cannot get local bookings.
  • NZ Navy vessels
  • Large fishing vessels
  • Small cruise vessels
  • Small international cargo vessels
• The costs of going to Sydney or Singapore are a net loss to the NZ economy.These costs include:
  • Opportunity cost of not being able to deliver transport services in NZ
  • Crew costs
  • Fuel costs of at least $NZ800,000 per return trip to Singapore (today’s prices).
• Quarantine issues have made a desperate problem even more severe.
• Work done in a dry docks covers a full range of ship maintenance and repairs, requiring skilled tradespeople earning good incomes.
• To give a sense of scale, the all-up cost of a ship being in a dry dock is about $NZ1million per week.Sending ships off shore to dry dock is a loss to the NZ economy.

Members of the Federation are: