Latest Updates

The Ferry Infrastructure Project celebrated a significant milestone at CentrePort last week, when the first permanent 24m-long pile was lowered into place by crawler crane.

This marks the start of permanent works to enable the extension of Dock Wharf, which is required for the Cook Strait Interislander Ferry Replacement Programme.

18 permanent piles, 1.8m in diameter, are required for the Dock Wharf extension, and more than 50 permanent piles will be installed across the wider project, alongside the piles already in place to support our staging wharves.

Our work to install a temporary staging wharf parallel to Dock Wharf is progressing well with 28 piles now in place for this structure. The staging wharf is an important piece of our project as it will be used to enable construction of Dock Wharf's extension. In particular, crawler cranes will sit on the wharf so they have access to where the permanent piles will be installed. 

Permanent piling is scheduled to start in mid-to-late September at the end of Dock Wharf with 1.8m wide steel casings to be driven into the seabed. The casings will eventually be filled with concrete after being prepared and a reinforcing cage being lowered into the empty casing.

Eighteen piles are needed for the Dock Wharf extension structure. Other piles are needed for a further side nesting structure, which will be done using a barge with a crawler crane on top.

You may have seen the steel pile casings neatly stacked for and stored at Kaiwharawhara Point, having been ordered earlier from overseas. This ensured they would be available when we were ready to start piling work, although more are required.

When piling work begins at Dock Wharf, another piling crew will start working on the permanent piling for the Side Nesting Structure. This work will all be done with a crawler crane on a barge. These piles are also 1.8m wide in diameter, like those for Dock Wharf.

Elsewhere on the project, we've been installing new utilities for a temporary terminal building and continuing to remove the old linkspan structure. Both pieces of work should be completed next month.

Things are gaining momentum at the Kaiwharawhara site with piling for a staging wharf well and truly underway. Some people may have noticed the piling sound and for anyone who's reached out to us, we're keeping an eye (or should that be ear) to the issue with our Acoustic Consultants checking on sound levels.

The team is also starting to have more engagement with the community and key stakeholders to raise awareness about the ferry infrastructure work that CentrePort will deliver. The most recent was a meeting with the Wellington Residents Association Network this week, giving them a presentation on the project. You can access a copy of the presentation given to the group from our Key Documents page.

Consent applications we've submitted to council are beginning to come through, including ones required to set up a temporary terminal for the Interislander. The temporary terminal is needed for safety purposes and to ensure the ongoing operational efficiency of the ferry marine infrastructure works. We'll keep you informed of the details regarding the temporary terminal as it progresses.

Key Documents

This 3D video highlights the key upcoming works happening at Kaiwharawhara and the expected final infrastructure designs. 

Work is gaining more momentum with materials arriving and set to be stored at the staging wharf area at what CentrePort calls 'South Road'.

These materials have long lead times between order and arrival, so while we're not ready to use some of it, we'd rather have it here for when we need it most! 

These are the casings for the major piles for our wharf extension and they're not your typical house piles. These are up to 2m in diameter - basically the height of basketballer Steven Adams.

We also see the start of piling work for another staging wharf at the Interislander site. This is something that people may hear. Noise will be monitored and generally only happen during the day.

View our prior media releases:

Announcement on Ferries

Ferry Programme Investment