DEEP SEA PORT AT WHAKATANE?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 46, 3 October 1949, Page 5

DEEP SEA PORT AT WHAKATANE?

In a report presented to the B«ard Mr'Brebner outlines the whole scheme, which'he thinks aS feasible from an engineering jp»mt of view and also economically sound. He has had the glans inspected by several #ther engineers, all of whom have been impressed wi|h the great possibilities of the scheme. He points out in his report that the scheme has three virtues: — (1) By diverting the river straight out to the sea a periodical flooding of the plains adjacent to the Wha.katane River would be eliminated. (2) The town of Whakatane would be presented with some 600 acres of additional land for expansion between itself and the sea coast. (3) A deep sea harbour would be provided, capable of handling the largest overseas vessels. At the present, time, Mr Brebner states, some ’323,423" acres of growing exotic timber is located on country, the natural fall of which is to the Rangitaiki River valley, and it is logical that Whakatane should handle this freight rather than transport it an additional 36 miles to Tauranga. The programme of re-afforestation envisages the replanting of cut-< over areas thus ensuring continuity of availability of forest produce in perpetuity. The harbour planned for Whakatane would provide deep water berthage capable of taking big ships and would be workable in all weathers and would provide space for accumulation and handling of all earg'oes likely to be offering.

Current rail freights from Murupara to Tauranga, a distance of 90 miles would be 5/8 per 100 superficial feet as against 4/4 from Murupara to Whakatane, a distance of 54 miles if the Whakatane Board Mills line was extended to the site of the new harbour. The Board Mills line is a standard one both in regard to track and bridges. It will be seen that the saving in freight would be 1/4 for every 100 superficial feet of timber carried

> /'over the line from Murupara- to V Tauranga for all time. From a railway operating point of view Whakatane offers many material advantages not the least of which is the saving in waggons required to .parry the freight which would be revenue producing continuously instead of intermittently as would be the case with the longer haul and delays in unloading that would occur in using Tauranga as a port. It is estimated that the building of the railway between Edgecumbe and Murupara will take five years and properly Jiandled the development of the deep sea harbour, railway extension and marshalling yards and river diversion at Whakatane could be completed within the same period. “I have had on good authority,” he adds, “that the produce from the 323,423 acres of exotic timber growing in the vicinity of the Rangitaiki • River watershed can be expected to be marketed as timber or wood pulp products and transported over the proposed railway system. The annual growth of this area of timj ber is estimated to be at least 250 cubic feet per acre and over the whole area 60,000,000 cubic feet equal to 720,000,000 feet, log measprement, or 360,000,000 board feet, sawn measure. “If both pulping and sawing were carried out the output per annum from this annual growth would be equivalent to a figure between the 360,000,000 feet sawn (if no pulp were made) and the 720,000,000 feet log (if the whole were pulped and none were sawn). To arrive at an understanding of what handling this available annual growth would involve, if it were all utilised, it should be understood that 360,000,000 sawn equals one and a half million feet sawn_per day for fiv^

ENGINEER’S PLANS FOR HANDLING EXPORT OF FORESTRY PRODUCTS AT SUBSTANTIAL SAVING IN COST

Extensive plans for the construction of a deep water Government harbour at the Whakatane Heads to take ships of any size in any weather were presented to the Whakatane Harbour Board for consideration by the consulting engineer, Mr C H. Brebner, last week. Providing for the straightening out of the Whakatane River so .that it flows straight to the sea from the .present traffic bridge and. enters the sea about 120 chains north of its present mouth the plan envisages a sheltered harbour with water deeper than that in the Auckland harbour. , At present the plans are for three sheltering moles and two 800 feet wharves, which would cope easily with any ships likely to be using the port The total cost would be about a £1,000,000. . The plans were prepared by Mr Brebner, who has had the Sea in mind for some time. He considers that the port could be constructed by the Government, the river straightened and railway marshalling yards built all for a cost of about one million pounds. At the same time 600 acres of flat land could be reclaimed and added to the borough.

days weekly for 50 weeks in. each year. As one and a half million feet sawn per day would involve a boat as large as the “James Cook” arriving, being completely loaded and leaving each and every of the five working days of each week of the year or the handling of 3,000/ 3,500 tons of timber per day. Save £IOOO a Week

“Even if we cut this estimate down to one and a half million feet per week the saving would be in the vicinity of £I,OOO for 50 weeks of the year or £50,000 annually on freight alone, which amount would be sufficient to finance the total cost of the project estimated not to exceed £1,000,000. “State Forest Service immediate plans have been officially quoted at 140 million feet sawn for export of which 100 million board feet sawn per. annum is expected to be achieved within ten years. The plans for pulp and paper mills at Muru>para envisage the production of 70,000' tons of pulp and paper as a commencement and up to 90,000 tons additional annually as and when markets become available.

“A large proportion of this pulp and paper tonnage and a substantial portion of the proposed 140 million sawn feet will be from the Kangaroa area and would pass through the proposed Whakatane Harbour. “In the process of developing the new harbour and later working it the population of Whakatane would greatly increase. Additional shopping facilities would have to be provided, secondary industries would be established- and general expansion would take place along modern lines.” Mr Brebner concludes.

RAIL TRANSPORT MUCH CHEAPER TO WHAKATANE,

The deep sea port scheme has attracted the interest of the Whakatane Board Mills and some mill officials have expressed definite support for the scheme should it be possible. The civil enginer at the mill, Mr A. E. Shaw, has investigated the plans and he, like Mr Brebner, considers that, the port can be established. Mr Shaw has examined the costs involved in railway transport and he points out that it would be very much cheaper to transport timber to a port at Whakatane than to Tauranga.

“The Board Mills' line from the Awakeri Station terminates a little over two miles from the proposed port and it would be a simple matter to extend this line to the wharves. The distance Awakeri to Board Mills is approximately six miles.

“The track is to main line standard of 551 b rails, hardwood sleepers, steel girder bridges,, with 4 pile piers, and is maintained to a high standard suitable for main line traffic.

“A comparison of distances— Murupara to Tauranga and Murupara to Whakatane by proposed railway is as follows: Murupara-Edgecumbe 42 miles, Edgeoumbe-Tauranga 48 miles. Total 90 miles.

Murupara-Edgecumbe 42 miles, .Edgecumbe-Whakatane via Awakeri and Board Mills line extended 12 miles approx. Total 54 miles.

“This shows a shortening of 36 miles in hauling.

“At ordinary railway tariff rates the cost of railing timber Murupara to Tauranga would be 5/8 per 100 super feet. Murupara to Whakatane would be 4/4, a saving of 1/4 per 100 super feet. “In terms of ship loads of 11 million feet of timber this would represent a saving of nearly £I,OOO per boat load and it is obvious that in the question of freight savings alone the Whakatane scheme merits consideration,” Mr Shaw adds.