- CURRENT NEWS / New Zealand
- 20 July 2021
WHANGĀREI HARBOUR LIES 160 kilometres north of Auckland and has a long history in the maritime industry. Now, the deep-water harbour has set its sights on the superyacht and recreational boating markets with two new developments, Oceania Marine Shipyards and Port Nikau.
The former is a redevelopment of existing shipyards to accommodate the needs of cruising yachts seeking refit and maintenance. The redevelopment includes upgrading the lifting capacity to 460 tonnes with the Italian-built Cimolai travelift due to be operational in October or November 2021.
The new infrastructure will add to the 1,800-tonne slipway capacity and body of marine contractors already on site. Integrated Marine Group and Urban Sea have set up satellite offices in the development to service the increase in yachts visiting Whangārei Harbour.
Simultaneously, a joint venture has been forged to redevelop Port Nikau adjacent to the shipyards. Port Nikau is a planned urban waterfront community and the docks are being completely transformed by Heron Marinas, an official SF Marina agent in New Zealand and the Pacific. The multi-faceted project includes installing a wide range of SF Marina concrete floating docks with superyacht capacities.
The first phase of the Port Nikau project included the installation of two SF Marina SF1840 floating concrete docks, each measuring 4 metres wide by 25 metres long, connected via an 8-metre sister dock with a golf cart-accessible gangway ramp landing. Yachts up to 60 metres tie up aft-first in a Mediterranean style.
“Due to a change in refit policy at CBD Marinas in Auckland, an opportunity arose for the developers of the Port Nikau project to accommodate superyachts,” said Heron Marinas CEO Tom Warren, CMM.
The next phase of the Port Nikau project will include Heron Marinas supplying numerous smaller docks using SF Marina floating concrete pontoons. It manufactures SF products at its Whangārei, New Zealand facility.
Port Nikau is a combination of residential and commercial space brimming with green space and walkable access to recreational and entertainment opportunities. With a 7-metre depth, the marina has multiple berths for vessels up to 175 metres.
With these two developments side by side, Whangārei Harbour may well become the northern harbour oasis of New Zealand’s refit and maintenance industry.
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