Cruise passengers have been delighted by the range of activities on offer in and around Whangārei and local businesses have declared the 2024 ‘mini’ cruise season, spanning February and March, a success.

These were the first scheduled cruise visits to Whangārei-terenga-parāoa. First into the harbour and to tie up at Northport on Sunday February 4 was the cruise ship ‘Regatta’ with about 604 passengers on board. She was met in the golden light of dawn with a water cannon salute by tugs opposite the Whangārei Heads, before a pōwhiri conducted by hapū Patuharakeke.

Sharp-eyed observers of activity at Northport may have picked up a temporary addition to the eastern end of our tug jetty recently. The fan-like object spraying a fine mist of water could potentially play a vital role, at some point in the future, in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it safely on the ocean floor through marine calcifying organisms.

It's a beautiful day here at Marsden Point and pretty much right across Northland. We send our best wishes for a safe and happy day to all our neighbours and surrounding communities, to our customers, suppliers, all who work here at the port, and everyone who helps us do what we do every day. Kia kaha!

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Repairs to road and rail links connecting Northland with Auckland scheduled for this year mean that we expect container traffic at Northport to reach, and exceed, previous levels. So we were pleased in December to receive two new Konecranes Liftace reach stackers – equipment that enables our vision of expanding the number of containers we can handle. They make it possible for us to stack and dispatch containers more efficiently.