Friday, 1 June 2012

Changing of the guard at Taharoa

For the non-Kiwi's reading the Blog, Taharoa is an commercial iron sands deposit west of Hamilton (south of Auckland). Iron sands are made into flat steel products at Bluescope's Glenbrook Mill and exported as a slurry to Japan. Iron sands suspended in water are pumped out to the Taharoa SBM and loaded into the ship tanker-style. De-watering channels in the ship's structure allow the water to settle out and it's pumped back ashore into a reservoir to be reused. Taharoa Express and Destiny are fitted with a bow crane to lift the pipeline up to the ship's loading manifold.

Taharoa Express- final departure

Taharoa Express, having spent a decade and a bit carrying iron sands loaded at the Taharoa Single Point Mooring Buoy, has finally been retired and loaded her last cargo on 8th May 2012. Originally built as a Capesize, she was converted for the NZ-Japan slurry trade in 1999. After this discharge, she will be scrapped in China.

Taharoa Destiny, her replacement, is purpose-built and has loaded her first cargo for discharge at Port Kembla. She'll then will come back to Taharoa for a full iron sand cargo for Japan.
Taharoa Destiny


Taharoa Destiny departing for Port  Kembla
 Photos courtesy of the M.H.Pryce Collection

Antipodean Mariner
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4 comments:

  1. Car Dealer Island7 June 2012 at 21:59

    Salute to the mariners!! You guys are the real brave heros. Hendrick Honda Of Charleston

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous15 June 2012 at 10:12

    Nice ships, are they NZ manned or foreign crew?

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Antipodean Mariner16 June 2012 at 10:37

    Taharoa Destiny is (the AM believes) as traditional FOB contract, whereby the Japanese steel mill purchases 'Free on Board' and control their inward supply chain. It's likely the ship will be manned by crew appointed by the Owners - possibly Japanese senior officers/Filipino junior officers and ratings.

    AM

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  4. Anonymous20 May 2013 at 17:18

    Very intering concept. How does the MV Taharoa Destiny discharge her cargo. Does she actually sail New Zealand with cargo still in a slurry condition, or does she drain (dry) thecargo first prior to sailing to the discharge port.

    ReplyDelete

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