Making room for larger container ships in Auckland

To better accommodate larger ships and increased future trade, we worked with Ports of Auckland to successfully relocate two short boom cranes over a period of just 48 hours.

Handling close to 1,500 ships every year, Auckland’s port is New Zealand’s largest import container port and one of the busiest in Oceania. Sitting along Auckland Harbour, it’s primarily import-focused and an important contributor to the nation’s economy.

As New Zealand’s population continues to grow, Ports of Auckland identified the need to accommodate larger container ships in coming years. To make this happen, we worked closely with them to relocate their two existing short boom cranes (which weigh 1,100 tonnes each) on Fergusson Wharf to their new position – approximately 100 metres south of this location.

Harnessing our expertise in the ports and marine space, we carried out a detailed structural and geotechnical review to confirm whether it was possible to move the cranes on steels rails from the existing concrete wharf areas, across reclaimed land (container storage area) and back onto the concrete wharf.

Once this was confirmed, we prepared a detailed tender specification for the crane relocation, before awarding a contract to ZPMC Australia Pty Ltd.

The relocation operation itself was carried out over two 48-hour mid-week windows in May 2017, to work around weather conditions and port operations. This was the first step in fully automating Fergusson Wharf, providing a solid foundation for future improvements.

Learn more about how we're helping to automate Ports of Auckland here.