Quake-hit Lyttelton port likely to keep sinking

Lyttelton's earthquake-damaged container terminal is likely to keep sinking for another three years, according to The Press (Christchurch).

About 40 per cent of the port's wharves were hit.

Lyttelton Port of Christchurch chief executive Peter Davie said Gladstone Pier would have to be demolished, along with a coolstore facility.

"The floor looks likes a roller-coaster," he said. The pier is riddled with cracks and in places slabs of concrete have been pushed up to 40 cm apart.

A weatherboard lighthouse built in 1878 is leaning at a precarious angle.

Davie said that at Cashin Quay, where coal and other goods are unloaded, the three berths had been running at only 65 per cent capacity.

Half the quay had slumped about 30cm below the other half, opening cracks that had left the surface weakened and unable to handle heavy loads, he said.

While the port had remained remarkably functional after the quake, the cost of the damage was being constantly reassessed as cracks widened, Davie said.

The port, which was fully insured, had previously estimated the damage bill to be more than US$37 million, but Davie said yesterday it would be impossible to tell "until the dust had settled".

This was partly because the container terminal, on reclaimed land, had already slumped between 20cm and 30cm and would continue to sink for up three years, he said. That would cause fresh distortions and cracks that would eventually require the entire surface to be replaced.

"It's like soil has been thrown into the air and now it's settling."

He said the quake meant expansion and beautification plans intended over the next three years could be brought forward as part of the rebuilding project.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)