Our navigation simulator has been an important tool in helping us to plan and prepare for large container ship calls here at Northport in recent months. We use the equipment to examine, as part of the overall risk assessment, the effects on these ships of significant environmental occurrences here at the port.

For instance, as part of the planning for the most recent arrival of the 261m ‘Constantinos P’ we simulated thunderstorm activity with associated heavy rain, reduced visibility and winds gusting up to 50 knots (image above).

We bade a fond farewell to the 'Constantinos P' at 2030hrs on Easter Sunday. From Northport's perspective it was an extremely successful call. Our two mobile harbour cranes undertook 1,364 container moves - 1,116 discharged for Auckland and 248 handled as DLRs (Discharge/Load/Restow). 

The job went exceptionally well; our team performed to an extremely high standard and finished unloading well ahead of pre-arrival estimates.

Training options for the New Zealand marine services sector have broadened considerably thanks to a navigation simulator and training facility we have established on site here at Northport. It can be used for a wide range of maritime training programmes and gives operators options beyond sending staff to Australia for training and aptitude testing, or enduring long waits for training windows in New Zealand.

The simulator replicates the environment on the bridge of a ship or tug, or in a local port service centre.

The largest vessel to call at Northport to date is tying up as we post this. Her cargo includes items that will make their way into Christmas stockings and under Christmas trees all across New Zealand.

A second container ship with boxes destined for Auckland and beyond berthed at Northport this morning in an effort to combat the congestion issues facing the entire NZ freight logistics sector. At 294m long the 'Tianjin Bridge' becomes the largest ship to berth at Northport, beating the Constantinos P which called here in December. 

Freight agent ANL confirmed the call on Friday last week (8 January).

Our second harbour mobile crane is up and fully operational. Not without considerable adventure, though.

It’s a story about a tiny stink bug, an extraordinarily lucky coincidence and a team of foreign technicians who desperately needed to leave New Zealand before being locked-down indefinitely, thousands of miles from their families, just as the global COVID-19 pandemic started to close borders and ground airlines all around the world.

Early this morning we ‘swung’ the Constantinos P. Basically, this means turning her around through 180 degrees so our cranes can work the aft (back) part of the vessel which previously was overhung (sticking out beyond our linear berth) so we could accommodate two other ships that are currently berthed at Northport.

We are well over half-way through the unloading process and hope to complete the job during the day-shift tomorrow.

It's a warm welcome back to Northport for the Constantinos P, a 261m gearless container ship offloading boxes destined for Auckland and beyond. This is her second call at Northport; the first time she arrived just before Christmas laden with seasonal cheer for Auckland businesses and retailers, this time she arrives at Easter.