Bledisloe North Wharf is a key project of ours and is included in the Auckland Council Long-term Plan. It will help us meet Auckland's freight needs, support the cruise industry, whilst also providing more access to the waterfront for Aucklanders and reducing ferry disruptions.
The situation: Cruise ships are changing in size and our infrastructure is no longer fit for purpose
More than 100 cruise ships visit us every year bringing:
- More than 300,000 tourists to the city
- Benefits to local businesses, including hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, and shopping malls
- Cruise ships restock in Auckland using a range of suppliers
- Annually cruise ships and their passengers inject over $200 million into Auckland's economy.
Cruise ships are becoming increasingly bigger. Cruise ships fall into three different categories:
- Small / boutique: up to 200m in length, up to 1,000 passengers
- Medium size: 200m – 300m in length, up to 3,000 passengers
- Large size: 300m – 350m in length, up to 5,000 passengers
Our current infrastructure is aging and isn't suited to the changing cruise industry.
- Queens Wharf is limited to ships 300m in length and Princes Wharf is limited to ships 330m in length (but with tight wind limits)
- Large cruise ships calling to Auckland are expected to more than double over the coming years
- Increasingly unsettled weather conditions are resulting in last minute cancellations or the use of thrusters, which isn’t ideal for cruise passengers and passenger ferries.
So, we need an alternative wharf to berth large cruise ships.
The situation: Roll on - Roll off (RoRo) trade is important to Auckland
- Around 280,000 vehicles per annum plus high and heavy equipment is handled at our RoRo wharves.
- Dwell times are low – less than two days. This allows time for MPI and Customs to do their inspections
- RoRo ships can carry all sorts of things – cars, campervans, buses, locomotives, helicopters, diggers and farm/quarry equipment. I.e. if it has wheels or tracks, or can go on a trailer, it can go on a RoRo. These are important to Auckland and most cargo is destined for Auckland
- We currently have two RoRo berths but will likely sell one berth (Captain Cook Wharf) to Auckland Council for public use as agreed in the Auckland Council Long-term Plan.
We need two berths plus the supporting yard area to handle this cargo. So, we need to replace Captain Cook Wharf to maintain current / projected RoRo throughput.
The solution: build a berth at the northern end of the Bledisloe Wharf that can accommodate cruise and RoRo ships.
This will:
- allow us to release 3.16 ha of waterfront land to Auckland Council (Captain Cook and Marsden wharves)
- reduce conflicts with passenger ferries by relocating large cruise ships away from Princes Wharf
- provide a berth for RoRo vessels displaced from Captain Cook wharf
Bledisloe North will be a multi-purpose berth.
How will we do it?
- The proposed Bledisloe North Wharf is a concrete piled wharf structure added to the end of the Bledisloe Wharf. It is not a reclamation.
- The berth will be around 13m in width, which is required in order to provide the berth depth required for the large ships.
Proposed design of Bledisloe North Wharf
Project status:
Consent application lodged and working with EPA on next steps.