Portsider-March-2017

Pleasing Start to the Year

SOUTH PORT’S

PEOPLE

Beginning in Bluff

Around the Port

BERGERSEN & BERGE BULK

2017 SOUTH PORT SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

Community Scholarship

John-William Barrow – Billy has had a fascination with the workings of computer software and the way in which networks operate from a young age. Billy’s career intentions are not just in IT, but in the specific fields of computer programming and network engineering. The Southern Institute of Technology’s Diploma in Information Technology provides training and qualifications in both of these disciplines.

Billy was home schooled from mid-2009 until he began James Hargest as a Year 11 at the beginning of 2015. At the end of 2016 Billy was supported by the head of the IT Department at SIT enabling his accelerated entry into the Diploma via the Certificate in Technical Computing. Upon achieving an A+ on his first two papers he has the opportunity to be transferred into the 3 year Diploma course.

Billy has been an IT intern with EIS since October 2016 and has assisted with IT related tasks with Makarewa School and the Lighthouse Gallery.

With Billy’s natural ability, work ethic, and enthusiasm for IT, he will surely achieve what he has set out to do.

Staff Scholarship

Lachlan Wood – Lachie graduated from Southland Boys’ High School in 2013

and has been attending Lincoln University, Canterbury undertaking a Bachelor of Agricultural Science. Lachie is the son of Warehousing Manager, Murray Wood. Lachie has already completed 3 years of a 4 year degree which will stand him in good stead towards his chosen career path.

Lachie is very motivated and strives for success and has demonstrated this through his studies and also on the rugby field, carrying on from playing for the SBHS 1st XV rugby team. Lachie’s other

interests include enjoying the New Zealand scenery while game hunting.

Since finishing the 2016 academic year, Lachie spent a couple of months working in Western Australia crop harvesting on a 12,000 hectare farm to assist in funding his studies.

Lachie has a keen interest in moving into the banking side of the agriculture industry and is following his passion, having been brought up in rural Southland.

PLEASING START TO THE YEAR

The first six months of the Port’s financial year ended on 31 December 2016, with cargo activity flows consistent with the same period last year.

South Port Chief Executive, Mark O’Connor said, “Total cargo activity registered at 1,517,000 tonnes, which aligns closely with the 1,512,000 tonnes throughput of the prior year interim period. Some variances were evident within individual categories. Specifically petroleum (-23,000T) and stock food (-30,000T) showed declines, whilst logs (+39,000T) and woodchips (+30,000T) continued to display strength”.

“Containerised cargo provided an encouraging lift of around 8%, despite negative pressure being evident for agri imports such as specalised fertiliser, stock food and minerals”.

Front Cover. The Artania, at 44,588 gross tons the largest ship ever to visit Bluff, outward bound escorted by the South Port tug Hauroko

South Port NZ

SOUTH PORT’S PEOPLE

Welcome aboard, Rob and Shawn.

SHAWN PLUMMER has just arrived in the south joining the Marine team after former Supervisor, Kerry Driver returned to the Navy.

Shawn’s previous role for the past three years was with the New Zealand Defence Force as a civilian at the Bridge Simulator Facility where he received a Chief of Navy Commendation for his services. He previously spent up to 240 days away from home a year as a Marine Consultant with SeaTec, travelling the world. Having moved to New Zealand in 2011 and now a resident, he is looking forward to gaining New Zealand citizenship. Shawn has a 16 year old daughter and an 18 year old son.

In his spare time he has a love of sailing. Interestingly, Shawn has skippered his own race yacht in two Fastnet races in the United Kingdom. In the 2007 event a severe weather bomb impacted the start of the race by 25 hours – the first time in the 83 year long history it had been delayed. Shawn was at the starting line with the other 271 yachts competing but by the end Shawn and his crew were 1 of only 64 to finish, the remaining yachts retired.

He also enjoys the ‘less stressful’ kite surfing and surfing and is a converted Highlanders Super Rugby fan (previously a Blues supporter).

Finally Shawn wanted mention made of the Bluff RSA – he said the local fish and chips are the ‘best ever’! t Shawn onboard the pilot vessel Takitimu II.

ROB THOMSON has joined the South Port team as Open Country Dairy Supervisor.

Born and bred in Christchurch, Rob’s experience includes three years managing a model and hobby shop in the garden city and more recently supervisory roles with Mitre 10 and Carters in North Canterbury (Rangiora). Rob has also travelled extensively throughout New Zealand; living in Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Nelson and the West Coast of the South Island.

The move south made sense as Rob’s fiancé Dannii is from Southland. Couple that with Rob’s love of the outdoors, including spending time camping, hunting and fly fishing, clearly the opportunity to be based in the south was perfect.

Rob and Dannii have a son James who has just turned five and started school. It won’t be long until the R’s are being rolled in the Thomson household! Rob enjoying his time in the south u

BEGINNING IN BLUFF

Statistically speaking, you have a greater chance of becoming a Chief Executive of a New Zealand Sea Port if you have worked in Bluff. Well that is not entirely true but at the moment we can claim that as factual. Currently there are three Chief Executives who have the top job at their respective Port’s who have worked at South Port. Garth Cowie (Napier Port), Derek Nind (CentrePort) and current South Port Chief Executive, Mark O’Connor have all at some stage sat in the main administration building in the deep south.

The Portsider recently had an opportunity to ask a few questions of the three Chiefs asking what their time in the south was like and the differences / challenges they now face around the country. When quizzed about their earliest memories in the south, Garth fondly remembers driving his MGB with the soft top down for his job interview, Derek’s memories go back to when he used to visit the Port as a kid when he was ten, whereas Mark recalls sitting in his first office and looking out the window watching a Nedlloyd RoRo vessel berthing thinking “this is going to be a fairly cool place to work”.

It was a trip down memory lane when the Portsider asked Garth and Derek for some of the names they enjoyed working alongside. Derek recalls Peter Cade, Bruce Jones, Blair Cousins and Russell Slaughter (three of whom are still employed at the Port) as good characters and Garth enjoyed working alongside his former Secretary, Joan Sutherland, Russell Slaughter, John Henderson, Jo Wilkinson, Keith Westbury, Bruce Jones and Neil Cantrick. He also enjoyed working alongside former Chairmen, Tom Shirley and Rex Powley. Mark never singled out any current staff preferring to comment on the high regard he had for former Chief, Neil Cantrick and more recently his interaction with former

MSC NZ Chief Executive and current Australasian Operations Director for MSC, Mark Godfrey. He said, “we tend to talk the same language and have some common interests such as average golf and slow horses, although I must acknowledge Mark Godfrey has had some excellent thoroughbreds in Australia recently”.

When asked about the biggest differences between South Port and Napier Port Garth said, “the container volumes we handle here are significantly larger. We are not so dependent on one large customer – we have several large key customers, and every day is summer in Napier”.

All agreed that having good people around them made their current jobs more enjoyable and that flowed through to a positive attitude and culture for workplace success.

Finally, all were in agreement that the best things about the south were (you guessed it) the famous Bluff Oyster and the closeness of Central Otago, the lakes and National Parks.

CRUISE BLUFF on

While the number of cruise ships visiting the past few years, the large cruise ships ‘top end’ luxury ships more numerous. that was too big to safely berth in Auckland, Seabourn Encore, surely a contender for cruise ship afloat, made her maiden cruise went the Seabourn Encore received rave description of her as ‘the sexiest ship at over the top. Others that sit firmly in the German cruise ship Europa and the French during their cruising season in New Zealand included the ‘adventure’ type vessels Bremen end of that market, and the regular Antarctic Akademik Shokalskiy.

Also possessing more stars than most which began life as sisters in the Renaissance their separate ways, while for those who find rather overwhelming old favourites such Sun Princess and Dawn Princess, offer a more

CRUISE SHIPS FOCUS on

visiting New Zealand has changed little over ships seem to be getting larger and the This year saw one cruise ship calling Auckland, while in the luxury sector the for the accolade of the most luxurious cruise through Fiordland. Wherever she rave reviews, although one reporter’s sea’ was generally considered a little the luxury bracket include the premier French L’Austral, both of which visited Bluff Zealand waters. Other visitors to Bluff Bremen and Caledonian Sky, at the luxury Antarctic tourers, Professor Khromov and are the Azamara Journey and Insignia, Renaissance Cruises fleet but have since gone find the population aboard the megaships as the Maasdam and the Princess pair, more sedate cruising style.

IN THE COMMUNITY

On a Social Note

2017 Mayall Cup

A field of 60plus golfers gathered to compete for the 2017 Mayall Cup in early March. The Southland summer had hardly been ‘scorching’ but the quality of play was hot. It appeared South Port’s best chance of winning the title this year was the combination of Mark O’Connor and Frank O’Boyle, with the latter getting professional golf lessons and spending plenty of time hitting balls at the Waikiwi Rugby Club in the lead up. Did practice make perfect? Not in Frank’s case with the team finishing dismally down the track. Rumours close to the action confirmed Frank chose to celebrate his 40th birthday in style the night before and has subsequently been demoted from Mark’s team next year. The eventual winners were Steve Blakie and Peter Fairbairn, representing NZAS. The longest drive award went to Adam Bedagood from KiwiRail and closest to the pin winners were Wendy Fairweather from Queens Park and Mike Hodgins from MSC.

Christmas Cheer

Lindsay ‘Woody’ Woodrow, Gary McNeil and Viv Patterson having a laugh at the South Port Christmas function held at Bill Richardson Transport World.

Editor: For the benefit of those outside the Southland province, it is a must see attraction when heading south, a world class facility.

Salvation Army Adopt a Family Campaign

For the third consecutive year, South Port and staff thought supporting the Salvation Army’s ‘Adopt a Family’ Christmas campaign was a worthy cause. It is an initiative that allows the less fortunate to enjoy the Christmas spoils that the majority of us take for granted, by adopting a local family. This year the Port was given a family of seven to look after, Mum, Dad and five children. By the look of the gifts donated 2016 Christmas would have been one to remember.

t South Port Marketing Analyst, Courtney Forde (left) presents a basket full of gifts to the Salvation Army on behalf of the Company.

Spirits were still high in the team photo after a close defeat.

Future Black Caps…

…or maybe not! South Port was challenged to a game of T20 cricket in November by local automation and electrical specialists, EIS, at the home of Southland Cricket. What was meant to be a summer’s day greeted the teams with occasional showers but this did not prove a hurdle and the game proceeded. South Port skipper, Hayden Mikkelsen won the toss (the only thing he got right all day) and chose to bowl, a decision he was regretting 20 overs later. EIS constructed a formidable total of 127. The South Port chase began well with former club cricket veterans Kris Walker and Nigel Gear looking calm and relaxed; however the loss of a couple of quick wickets had the inexperienced middle order chasing a run rate in excess of six per over and it proved too tough, falling an agonising seven runs short. Special mention to Jordan Culliford who threw himself around in the field and Jason Paul who made the trip back from out of town to play – great commitment lads! The rematch is scheduled to take place later this year.

AROUND THE PORT

Relocation of OCD fence & construction of loadout canopy

Regular Port users will have noticed some changes heading to Shed 3, 3A, 3B and 3C in recent times. The security gate that was located at 3A has now been relocated to Berth 2, meaning entry to the dairy sheds and Port tugs requires swipe card access. In other changes, Shed 3A now has a new loading canopy, allowing the dairy shed to pack ten plus containers at a time in adverse weather; previously only one container could be packed at a time. Feedback from operators in the area is very complimentary of the new canopy, meaning they are not exposed as much to Bluff’s sometimes inconsistent climate!

A Bit of History

Bluff, the Yachtsman’s Refuge

Bluff has a long history of offering succour to those the sea has caused distress, dating back most famously to Alec Rose and Lively Lady who put in here in 1967 to repair a damaged mast and rigging. On that occasion locals came to his assistance helping rerig the Lively Lady to complete his solo circumnavigation. Fifty years later it happened again when French yachtsman Thomas Ruyant, competing in the Vendee Globe single-handed around the world race struck a submerged object, perhaps a container, in his yacht Le Souffle du Nord. A combination of great skill and good luck allowed Thomas to limp into Bluff but this time the damage was too severe for him to continue.

Same name / same place

Or more likely David and Goliath! Recently Port photographer Chris Howell caught two vessels with the same name berthed at the Port. Diana was loading logs in the background at berth 8 and fishing vessel Diana was at the syncrolift. It’s the second time in recent years Port users would have noticed this. The coastal tanker Torea and the oyster boat Torea were frequently in port together until the tanker Torea was returned to her owners last year.

BERGESEN & BERGE BULK

Bergesen is one of the great Norwegian shipping dynasties which began when Berge Bergesen shifted to Stavanger and established a shipping company in 1840. His son Sigval Bergesen and grandson Sigval Bergesen d.y. – d.y. being an abbreviation of ‘den yngre’, meaning ‘junior’ – both established successful shipping companies and their successor, the BW Shipping Group, is today a major carrier of bulk cargo in all its forms - dry, liquid and gas.

In 1887 Sigval Bergesen formed his own shipping company, its first ship being the schooner-rigged galeas Edda but soon introduced steamships to his fleet, notably the tanker Breifond in 1914, one of the first steam tankers under the Norwegian flag. Sigval Bergesen d.y., who was born in 1893, joined his father’s company in 1916, he and his older brother Ole being appointed directors in 1918. All was well until 1934 when Sigval Bergesen d.y. ordered two motor-tankers from Odense Staalskibs against opposition

from both his father and brother. Under the circumstances Sigval Bergesen d.y. decided to leave his father’s company and establish his own, Sig. Bergesen d.y. & Company being registered on 20 February 1935 and taking over the contract for one of the tankers, which he named President de Vogue. In 1941 the Anders Jahre visited New Zealand, the first company ship to do so, followed by the President de Vogue in 1942 and Berge Bergesen and Bergestrand in 1955.

Having initially named his ships after people associated with the company, in 1947 Bergesen introduced a new nomenclature with names commencing ‘Berge’, President de Vogue being renamed Bergesund, and every ship built for the company since has adopted this system. By 1970 Sig Bergesen d.y. was the largest shipping company in Norway with a fleet of tankers ranging up to nearly 300,000 tonnes deadweight, the ships being painted an attractive shade of pale green, which greatly enhanced their appearance

Awaiting her pilot the Berge Annupuri was making her first call at Bluff.

Although Berge Bulk hulls are painted a serviceable red, the funnels still feature ‘Bergesen Green’.

and became known as ‘Bergesen Green’. Although Bergesen had previously managed dry-bulk and ore carriers it was not until 1970 that it owned ships of this type, the iconic Berge Stahl of 1986 being the biggest ore carrier afloat when built. During the 1970’s, the company also began building a fleet of gas carriers and this became its most important business, followed by crude oil transportation, dry bulk and offshore operations. Sigval Bergesen d.y. retired in 1976 and management of the company passed to his two grandchildren, Petter Sundt and Morten Bergesen. In 1986 the company, now named Bergesen d.y. A/S, was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

On this page of our July 2000 issue we featured the World-Wide Shipping Company founded by Y. K. (later Sir Y. K.) Pao in Hong Kong in 1955, which became one of the largest shipping companies in the world. In 1967 Pao’s daughter, Anna Pui Hing Pao, married Austrian Helmut Sohmen, the couple moving to Hong Kong in 1970 to join the family business. Helmut Sohmen was appointed chairman of the WorldWide Shipping Group in 1986 and in 2003 World-Wide acquired Bergesen d.y. A/S, initially rebranding as Bergesen Worldwide and now known as BW Group. The combined fleets of the two companies were grouped into three divisions, BW Maritime managing the tanker fleet, BW Gas ASA looking after the gas tankers and Berge Bulk Limited founded in Bermuda to operate the dry bulk fleet. When it was established in 2007 the Berge Bulk fleet was made up entirely of very large bulk and ore carriers, the smallest of them being over 170,000 tonnes deadweight and so far too big for the New Zealand trade. Berge Bulk moved into the handy-size class in 2015 with the delivery of the Berge Hakodate, which visited Bluff that July, and Berge Bulk ships have now become a familiar sight in the Port of Bluff.