Lyttelton seeks nod for big dig

Lyttelton Port of Christchurch is planning a $100 million project to deepen the harbour channel by four metres.

The company has applied to Environment Canterbury for resource consents for the dredging work, which will allow larger vessels into the port over the full tidal range.

The company handled a record number of containers in the past financial year, chief executive Peter Davie said.

"The international trend is for ships to get bigger and carry more cargo to reduce the cost per container," he said.

Dredging work would take between eight and 12 months over a 10-year period, he said. It would involve cutting away up to 10.7 million cubic metres of seabed.

The dredge would work 24 hours a day during working months and would not have an effect on moving vessels, he said.

It was planned to put the excavated sediment at a site about six kilometres from Godley Head where the water was about 20 metres deep.

Work was unlikely to start for about two years, Davie said.

Lyttelton Community Association chairman Tas Young supported the plan but said it was vital all sediment was dumped outside the harbour.

"I guess with the increase in the size of ships it has to be happen," he said. "We're very concerned that any sediment removed from the harbour or outside the heads is not put into the harbour."

The company also plans to reclaim about 10 hectares in Te Awaparahi Bay, east of Lyttelton, for port activities, including the expansion of the coal stockyard between Cashin Quay and Battery Point.

Young said that proposal was of much more concern to Lyttelton residents.

- © Fairfax NZ News