Napier Port’s new $5 million office building and the country’s first mobile harbour crane simulator were officially opened yesterday by economic development minister Steven Joyce.
The new building and mobile simulator are part of the ports aim to lift safety and productivity as it prepares for continued growth.
Last year container handling was up 16.5% and the port has seen 80% growth in container movements in the last decade.
The new Vortex simulator transforms the way crane operators are selected and trained says the port.
The simulator provides an exact replication of the Port’s crane operation from layout, equipment, vessels and vehicles, right down to quayside conditions such as shadows and vessel movement.
“The simulator allows the Port to see how potential crane operators will perform in a controlled environment,” says Napier Port Chairman Alasdair MacLeod.
“It’s cut down the selection process timeframe by about 90% – the team know very quickly if someone has the right skills and eye-hand coordination for the job and we don’t need to send operators overseas where they previously went for training,” says MacLeod.
“We expect other efficiency gains, such as an improvement in crane rates through operators being able to practice on a regular basis and using it to practice more difficult scenarios,” he says.
The simulator will also be available to train stevedores that use ship pedestal mounted cranes, and other ports that operate Terex Gottwald mobile harbor cranes, such as Northport, as well as those that operate Liebherr mobile harbour cranes.
The new Port office building provides a higher level of resilience following a natural disaster, such as an earthquake and tsunami. It meets the requirements of an ‘importance level 3’ building.
This is in recognition of the Port’s role as a Hawke’s Bay ‘lifeline utility’, which provides essential services to the community.
“For the first time in its history, nearly all staff – corporate, operations, engineering and marine departments – are working together under one roof,” says MacLeod.
“Bringing teams closer together supports the Port’s strategic goal of fostering a more engaged workforce to ensure it’s well placed to handle the region’s growing cargo base,” he says.
