CentrePort Wellington will begin hosting weekly ANL Trans-Tasman schedule calls as from February 12, marking the return of the port’s first regular container shipping service since the November earthquake.
A CentrePort spokesperson says the self-geared vessels will provide Wellington shippers with direct connection to Australia and via transhipment with North America, North Asia, South East Asia and globally.
“The services will berth on Aotea Quay Two, which is part of the 1000 metres of operational berth on Aotea Quay,” says the spokesperson.
“We have modified our processes to accommodate the ANL ships. We have already accepted geared ships since the earthquake. We are working closely with ANL throughout this process.”
The spokesperson expects the service will see “several hundred containers” loaded and unloaded per week.
It is understood CentrePort is actively negotiating with other self-geared containership operators in attempt to attract further callers, as it works to resume modified gantry crane operations within the next four to six months.
“Our key trades of ferries, fuel, logs, cars and cruise ships continue to operate. Indeed, since the earthquake many of these trades have performed very strongly. This shows the importance of the port to the economy of the central region, and the hard work we’ve put in to quickly resuming services.”