Portsider-March-2018

Changing Gears

I was recently asked to present at an event to talk about the Port and the relationships that we deal with on a dayto-day basis.

On reflection, having excellent relationships is one of the keys to operating a business successfully.

The internal relationships within the Port are central to ensuring that the business runs efficiently, effectively and safely. This can be achieved through good leadership and communication. I have been attending some of the regular “operational toolbox meetings” around the Port and see that this is working well. External relationships are crucially important as we need to understand our customer requirements so that we can provide the “right” service. A policy of “no surprises” should always be in the back of the mind; therefore regularity of communication needs to be monitored to make sure we are not taking for granted that silence is acceptance and that all is working well.

In the same breath Contractors need to understand our requirements before they come on the Port and our instructions have to be clear and concise.

Recently we held a couple of forums at the Port, one to review the safe working

of the “log trailer hoist” and the other a general port user’s forum. Both were well attended and there was some excellent two way communication. These forums allow parties to interact, discuss issues and collectively come up with an agreed way forward. I would like to thank all those involved in this process to date as it improves everyone’s safety when coming onto the Port as well as strengthening our existing relationships. Finally, it has been pleasing to see a good interim result for the Company to 31 December 2017. The Port achieved a record tonnage for an interim period thanks to strong fertiliser, logs and stock food volumes. This positively impacted on our profitability with an improved interim FY2018 NPAT of $4.9M (FY2017 - $4.1M).

The cargo outlook for the second six months is consistent and in line with budgeted expectations with a potential upside in log activity.

Nigel Gear.

2018 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

We would like to congratulate this year’s successful scholarship applicants:

Staff Scholarship

KATARINA COOTE – Katarina graduated from Southland Girls’ High School in 2014 and has been attending University of Otago, Dunedin undertaking a Bachelor of Law. She is the daughter of one of South Port’s Pilots, Bob Coote. She has already completed 2 years of a 4 year degree which will set her in good stead towards her chosen career path.

Katarina is a very motivated person who continually strives to better herself and has demonstrated this through her studies, on the netball court and touch rugby field. Her other interests include the performing arts, amnesty international and she is a member of the Students Against Dangerous Driving (SADD) Committee.

Katarina is a genuine, positive, respectful and determined young woman and it is these qualities which will enable her to achieve every goal she sets herself.

Community Scholarship

MARIA SUTHERLAND – Maria finished High School at Verdon College at the end of 2017 and has chosen to study a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Otago Polytechnic. She has always been the creative type and a career in the arts is what she is passionate about pursuing. Ultimately Maria would like to become an art teacher so this will require further study at the Otago University College of Education.

Maria has participated in both sporting and cultural activities, including coaching and playing netball, rowing, jazz band, choir, played lead roles in school productions, has completed her

Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Service Award and was an active member of the Te Ara O Kiwa Sea Scouts.

Maria is naturally very talented and sensible and there is no doubt that with her proven academic ability, drive and determination her well thought out goals will be realised. We wish both Katarina and Maria all the best for the academic year.

SOUTH PORT’S PEOPLE

Vanessa Leask

Vanessa accepted the vacant Dairy Warehousing Administrator position at the Port and has settled in well with the dairy team.

Vanessa grew up in Bluff but shifted to Christchurch and then Nelson, before moving back to Invercargill at the end of 2008. She returned to her grass roots in Bluff in February this year.

Renee Nyhon

Renee has joined the R&D team working alongside Graham Brown, Gerald McLeod and Elizabeth Anderson.

Prior to coming to South Port, Renee had extensive experience working various roles within the hospitality industry so is naturally “a very social person”. She lived in Melbourne from 2012 until the

Megan Howes

Megan Howes has joined the Warehousing team as Compliance Officer replacing Tammi Topi. Previously Megan has been involved in compliance with Alliance Group Lorneville plant as Internal Verification Auditor and more recently Silver Fern Farms corporate office in Dunedin as Quality System Coordinator.

Born in New Plymouth, Megan has lived between Dunedin and Invercargill for the past 23 years. She

One For The Bitumen

The latest addition to New Zealand’s coastal tanker fleet recently made her first visit to Bluff. She is the tanker Kokako which has replaced the Kakariki distributing petroleum products and bitumen around our coast. Bitumen has to be carried at a comparatively high temperature in order to maintain it as a liquid so the tanks and pipework associated with the bitumen need to be insulated making a bitumen carrier a much more complex ship than a normal products tanker. Named after the endangered native bird, the Kokako was delivered by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in November last year, is 46,724 tonnes deadweight, carries her cargo in 14 tanks and handles it with 12 cargo pumps.

Whilst working Vanessa is also undertaking Post Graduate Human Resources (HR) study to build on her business degree and HR Diploma qualifications. Vanessa has two children (10 and 4 years old) and says she “enjoys raising my two daughters in a small community”. They attend Bluff School and Bluff Kindergarten, enjoy ballet and playing soccer. During her spare time Vanessa enjoys playing netball, holidaying in Nelson and Central Otago and spending time with family and friends.

end of 2015 when she moved home due to missing the ‘small time’ lifestyle and family.

Renee grew up in Bluff spending a lot of time on the ocean as both her father and grandfather are fishermen in the area and she enjoys anything to do with the ocean – “(I’ve) spent a lot of time on fishing boats and had a season in Milford Sound on the Milford Mariner”.

In her spare time Renee’s hobbies include biking, bush walks and surfing.

lived in Invercargill for 15 years and then had a 2½ year stint in Dunedin before returning to Invercargill in October last year.

Megan is married to John who is the Health and Safety Manager at Alliance Group’s Lorneville plant. They have two boys aged 14 and 12 who attend Southland Boys’ High School.

Outside of work Megan enjoys walking her two Hungarian Viszla dogs and having two active boys gets her out and about either walking or biking, frequently along the Waihopai Riverbank, at the Sandy Point mountain bike track and Oreti beach.

New Syncrolift Facility

Virtually the entire Real Journeys fleet of Fiordland tourist vessels have been assembled adjacent to and launched from the Bluff Syncrolift. The vessels return regularly during the winter off season for overhaul and refurbishment and to facilitate this, Real Journeys constructed a repair shed ahead of the Syncrolift allowing vessels in for repair to be towed clear of the lift and worked on under cover. For the larger vessels this facility was proving rather cramped so was removed with a new and larger building now under construction on the same site. The new building measures 57.28m x 33.60m and should provide a far more comfortable working environment.

BLUFF FOCUS ON CRUISE SHIPS

Ovation of the Seas clears Thompson Sound and sets a course northwards for Milford Sound.

A veritable smorgasbord of cruise ships were entrusted to South Port Pilots this year ranging from the largest cruise ship ever to visit the country down to small adventure type ships and a super yacht.

Starting at the top, the Ovation of the Seas is a ship of superlatives as far as cruising in New Zealand waters is concerned. Measuring 158,350 gross tonnes on dimensions of 348 x 50 metres she can berth 4,180 passengers - maximum 4,905 - and provide them with facilities that passengers of yesteryear could not even have imagined, far less have dreamed of. Numerous speciality restaurants and bars are almost standard in today’s cruise ships but the Ovation of the Seas also offers the North Star, an elevating arm carrying a viewing capsule, roller skating, bumper cars, surfing on the flowrider, a rock climbing wall, a skydiving simulator and much, much more. One of the Quantum Class operated by Royal Caribbean International the Ovation of the Seas and her sisters are only surpassed by the same company’s

Oasis Class ships. Although she may have dominated every port she visited, the Oasis of the Seas was in turn dwarfed by the grandeur of Fiordland. Royal Caribbean was also represented by the Radiance of the Seas while from subsidiary fleets came the Azamara Journey and the Celebrity Solstice.

Carnival Corporation is the world’s largest cruise company and it was also well represented in this years’ cruising collection. As usual, Princess Cruises lead the way with the Diamond Princess, Sea Princess and Sun Princess; from Holland-America came the Noordam and Maasdam while the Seabourn Encore represented the luxury brand of Seabourn Cruises.

Luxury too from Silversea with the Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper both visiting Fiordland. Norwegian Cruise Line sent the Norwegian Jewel south while the Caledonian Sky and the L’Austral (see page 8) returned to Fiordland for another season amid its scenic splendours. As for the super yacht – check out page 7.

SPORTING MOMENTS

Quarter of a century between drinks!

The year was 1993; Jim Bolger was the Prime Minister after National was returned to power, musicians like Annie Crummer, The Mutton Birds & The Exponents were dominating the New Zealand music charts. So what does 1993 and 2018 have to do with the Mayall Cup we hear you ask? Well believe it or not that was the last time South Port had its name etched on the old cup – 25 long years ago.

This year 26 teams battled it out in windy but pleasant conditions on a very dry Queens

Park. The scores reflected the quality of play and fittingly it was regular South Port entrants Chris Ryan and Aaron Fowler who stood at the top of the ladder with an adjusted net score of 59 taking away the prize.

First time entrants Mark Grover and Hamish Fitzgerald from Matariki Forests almost pulled off the victory playing steady golf throughout the 18 holes finishing second, a couple of shots back. Hamish was left regretting a wayward second shot on hole 9 requiring a

penalty shot to be taken proving crucial in the final wash up. Third place getters were Mark Boniface and Graham Balfour representing the Clive Wilson/ CW Telfer team.

Regular bridesmaids Gareth Carson and Scott Faithfull again failed to live up to their own hype, although finishing a credible 4th, both were left lamenting “what could have been” with a rough three holes to start their day ultimately extinguishing their hopes of winning.

Big Bash? Super Smash? Actually South Port versus EIS

The second annual South Port v EIS T20 cricket match was held recently at Southland Cricket’s Headquarters, Queens Park. Revenge was at the forefront of South Port captain Hayden Mikkelsen’s mind after a first match loss 12 months ago.

The day started well, Hayden won the toss for the Port and elected to bat. New recruit and youngster Alex Pemberton was thrust into the lion’s den to open with veteran Chris Ryan and the pair were making every post a winner. They swiftly past 25 before Alex (16) and Chris (13) were

dismissed in quick succession.

The wheel nuts began to loosen when Nigel Gear departed without troubling the scorers; however Kris Walker steadied the ship scoring a classy 28 before recklessly throwing his wicket away. It was time for the captain to be counted. 12 months ago he was at rock bottom, a first ball duck and bowling figures of 20 an over were ringing loud in his ears. Hayden looked like a man possessed. He clubbed 5 fours in a dominant score of 22 not out, propelling the team total to a more than impressive 143 from the 20

over allocation.

Spirits were high at the halfway mark; however any signs of complacency and the game would be gone. The bowlers began the innings carrying on the batting momentum removing 3 of the top 4 batsmen for ducks. With 144 to win, it seemed like climbing Everest for the EIS team, however key wickets were still in the shed and it would be naive to dismiss the Invercargill based firm.

EIS cruised home with more than 3 overs remaining sending the Bluff team packing

IN THE COMMUNITY

Salvation Army –

Adopt a Family

For the third consecutive year South Port and its staff came together in true Christmas spirit and sponsored a family through the ‘Salvation Army Adopt a Family’ cause. Many gifts, vouchers and food items were donated to an anonymous Southland family to help make their Christmas a special one.

The ‘Adopt a Family’ campaign was originally a concept thought of by a group

of lawyers in Auckland who felt they and their families had lost the true spirit of Christmas, often giving gifts that were not needed or appreciated. The group approached their local Salvation Army and asked if it was possible to find a family that could be provided for, to ensure they would experience a happy Christmas that many of us take for granted. A family was found and the anonymous exchange was successful. The Salvation Army now run this as an annual nationwide campaign to help many families throughout New Zealand and is supported by many businesses in both Southland and New Zealand.

and licking their wounds for another 12 months. Captain Hayden Mikkelsen was heard leaving the ground saying we won’t lose a third time!!

G2 Ocean

There is a new name in the bulk cargo world. G2 Ocean may be new in name but it represents many years of experience as it is the name under which the combined fleets of Gearbulk and Grieg Star, two of the world’s leading dry bulk carriers, will trade in future. The joint venture was first proposed on 19 October 2016 and after regulatory approval was received, rebranding of the combined fleet began on 1 May 2017, with the first ship to visit Bluff carrying the new funnel mark being the Rakiura Maru and the

The Other Half

Plover Arrow was the first fully rebranded ship to visit. As ships are not being taken out of service for this work to be carried out it will be some time before the entire fleet of over 130 ships wears G2 Ocean markings.

G2 Ocean has the largest fleet of open hatch bulk carriers in the world –previously Gearbulk’s fleet alone was the largest – fitted with either gantry of luffing cranes and also has a number of conventional bulk ships.

Shareholding in G2 Ocean is 65% Gearbulk and 35% Grieg Star and the company has its head office in Bergen.

Super yachts do not flock to Fiordland in large numbers but nor are sightings so rare that they be considered an endangered species. This year the Polar Star made her first visit to the region allowing a couple of locals the opportunity to travel with ‘the other half’ and see how they live. ‘Pretty well’ was the conclusion.

Her name is no affectation as Polar Star is ice-classed and with a range of 8,000 nautical miles is a true expedition yacht. Completed in 2005 by the highly regarded Lurssen yard in Germany she measures 1,495 gross tons, is 208 feet long and can accommodate 10 guests in considerable style.

As the old saying goes - “It’s a terrible job but somebody has to do it”.

Post Panamax

Until recently, every container ship that had ever berthed in Bluff had been capable of passing through the ‘old’ Panama Canal. Then along came Lori.

Until the new locks were opened in 2016, the maximum permitted beam was 32.3 metres, so when the Lori was completed in 2013 as the Hanjin Florida, her 37 metre beam made her too wide to transit the Canal and rated her ‘postpanamax’. When applied to container ships this term normally applies to ships up to about 13,000 TEU, but the Lori is a more modest 3,600. Although she can stow 15 rows of containers across her deck, against 13 on a ‘Panamax’ her capacity is restricted by her length of 228 metres.

COMPAGNIE du PONANT

French passenger liners established an enviable reputation for providing luxury at sea, with elegant ships offering opulent surroundings, superb cuisine and the finest of wines.

With the virtual demise of the deep-sea passenger liner by 1970, this was a fading reputation as the cocurrent growth in the cruise industry was largely ignored by French shipping interests. A group of young officers in the French merchant fleet resolved to revive that reputation. Lead by Jean Emmanuel Sauvee and Philippe Videau these fourteen officers, aged 23 to 29, established La Compangnie des Iles du Ponant in April 1988. (Ponant is an archaic French term for ‘West’). The company’s first ship, the three-masted auxiliary schooner Le Ponant of 1,489 gross tons with accommodation for 64 passengers, was delivered in May 1991. She still serves the company today.

In 1998 the Le Levant, with accommodation for 90 passengers, was acquired followed by the much larger Le Diamant, with berths for 226 passengers, in 2004. The latter had cruised New Zealand waters during the 1990’s when named Song of Flower Both these ships were sold as a quartet of newly built sisters came into service, Le Levant passing to French Polynesian owner Paul Gauguin Cruises in 2012 and Le Diamant going to Quark Expeditions in 2011.

Measuring a little under 11,000 gross tons, the new ships were named Le

Boréal, L’ Austral, Le Soléal and Le Lyrial First of the new ships to be delivered, Le Boréal, entered service in 2010 and won the ‘Best Newcomer of the Year’ gold award from the European Cruiser Association (EUCRAS). All the ships are ice classed enabling Ponant to offer cruises to polar regions and in 2013 Le Soléal became the first French commercial vessel to sail through the fabled North-West Passage.

Currently under construction for Ponant are four more ships of similar size, the ‘Explorer Class’, to be delivered later this year and through 2019. They will be named Le Champlain, Le Lapérouse, Le Bougainville and Le Kerguelen after four of France’s most famous explorers. Like the rest of the fleet all these ships will be capable of visiting polar regions but Ponant has also ordered an ice-breaking cruise ship capable of visiting such extreme areas as the North Pole and Antarctica’s Ross and Weddell Seas. Due for delivery in 2021 she will be one of the most eco-friendly ships afloat. Powered by LNG, or an alternative battery power source, she will be equipped with azipod propulsion units and her 270 passengers will be provided with 16 Zodiacs and 2 helicopters to enhance their polar experience.

Founded in Nantes, the company’s headquarters shifted to Marseilles in 2006 when it was bought by the French shipping giant CMA-CGM, one of the world’s largest container lines. The purchase of a luxury cruise line by a

container shipping company may seem odd, but in this case oddly appropriate as one of the companies that merged to form CMA-CGM was Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, better known as the French Line, perhaps the most revered of all French shipping lines and once the epitome of French luxury at sea, the mantle now carried by Ponant. At this time the company’s name became Compagnie du Ponant and was later shortened to simply Ponant.

In 2012 Ponant was sold to Bridgeport, an investment company, and in 2015 was acquired by Artemis Group, controlled by the Pinault family which includes such prestigious brands as the auction house Christies and the winery Chateau Latour in its portfolio. Firmly occupying the top rungs of the French cruising ladder, Ponant ships offer cruises to world-wide destinations with an emphasis on the ends of the Earth. As New Zealand’s gateway to Antarctica we look forward to welcoming more of this luxurious fleet to the Port of Bluff. L’Austral inbound for Bluff in boisterous conditions.