PURCHASE OF COLLIERS BY ELECTRICITY DEPT. URGED

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31113, 16 July 1966, Page 19

PURCHASE OF COLLIERS BY ELECTRICITY DEPT. URGED

The purchase of two colliers, each of 5500-ton capacity, or three of 3500-ton capacity, to be retained in firm control of the New Zealand Electricity Department whether manned by the department or by agents, has been recommended by consultants to the Government in a paper attached to the report of the Planning Committee on Electric Power Development, tabled in Parliament by the Minister of Electricity, Mr Shand.

The consultants say such vessels could carry coal well in excess of the average weekly consumption of the proposed coal-fired power station—an excess necessary to allow for periods when Ships would be delayed because of freshes in the Buller river, or through being laid up for maintenance. A collier could be used to maintain or repair the Cook Strait power cable, the paper adds. It also envisages a twin overhead ropeway from Stockton to Westport with a maximum capacity of 400 tons an hour, discharging into a 10,000-ton dockside bunker and with a belt conveyor loading the colliers at 1400 tons an hour. It was assumed that Westport improvements would give a 2ft extra depth at the bar, and that a collier’s load would be varied to suit bar conditions. In the North Island the consultants suggest wharf grabbing cranes, one to each ship’s hold, and straddling belt conveyors with a total capacity of 1000 tons an hour. 1

The consultants say that the use of barges has been considered, “but an estimate of costs has not yet been obtained, and the feasibility of the marine operation needs to be investigated further. The

resources of the barge-operat-ing company should be confirmed. Barge transport would not significantly alter the cost balance between sites, although Wanganui offers Is per ton less for barge use.”