NEW DOCK

Hokitika Guardian, 21 August 1930, Page 2

NEW DOCK

WELLINGTON’S PROPOSED WORK

The Jubilee Dock, so named in commemoration of the fiftieth' anniversary of the Wellington Harbour Board, tenders for which have recently been jiccc.pted, will' be sufficiently large to accommodate tlie biggest liners trading regularly to New Zetland, such as the Rangitiki, and her sister ships. It will have a lilting capacity of 17,000 tons. The dock will measure 527 feet in length over the pontoons, 533 feet over the keel blocks, and 548 feet over the platform. The extreme 'width of the structure will be 117 ft 6in., and the width of the entrance will bo 88 feet. The ltangitiki is 535 feet in length with an extreme breadth of 77 feet. The dock will draw 44 feet of water when sunk to its lowest depth to take a ship in, and there will be not less than 24 feet depth over the keel blocks at low water.

The pumping will be done by electric power. The compartment valves will be operated by an electro-pneu-matjc system from a central valvehouse. An electric crane capable of lifting two tons will run on rails along one side of the dock, which will be secured by four great booms to the specially-constructed mooring wharf. There will be also longitudinal moorings fore and aft, and gangways will be provided to give access from the wharf to the top level of tho dock and the working floor below. •Electric capstans will /be provided to assist in warping ships in and out of dock, and tliero will be four sets of mechanical side-shores. Electri-cally-driven air-compressors and other subsidiary appliances will be installed.

It is fitting that the contract for the construction of Wellington’s new dock has been awarded to Ewan. Hunter and Wigham -Richardson, Ltd., of Ncwcastlo-on-Tyno, the famous firm of shipbuilders which built, tho Mauritania. They have had considerable experience in the construction of floating docks for various parts of the world, their last big work of the kind being the great floating dock for Singapore, which was towed out to its destination in sections.

As tlie cable message indicates the moving of the Jubilee Dock from the Tyne to Wellington will establish a record in long-distance towing. Probably: the longest previous dock tow was that of the Callao floating dock from Britain out to Peru some years before the war, but that will be considerably exceeded in the 12,000 mile journey of the. Jubilee Dock. Such toiying work is usually done by a Dutch firm, which, has a fleet of oceangoing tugs of great, power and long ffu'evl endurance, and iwjhicji specialises in such work, In all probability four tugs will handle the Wellington dock on its long passage, which doubtless will be made via the Suez Canal—a route which bus many convenient coaling stations. The construction of the dock will probably take the greater part of-a year and will give employment to a large number of men. The passage out to New Zealand will occupy several months, so that the dock will not arrive in Wellington till early in 1932, Jn tlie meantime five Hairboiur Board i 8 pushing on with the work of preparing the site for the new dock which, as described in a recent article, will be moored at a wharf oil' the Kaiwarra end of the Thermion reclamation sea-wall. The site is being dredged level to the required depth, and. a start, has been made with he constr'iuijtioii -of the approach jetty to the main dock-wharf, which will he of very massive construction in reinforced concrete