Nelson, like many cities, grew up around its port. 160 years later this puts a modern 24-hour port operation alongside industrial and residential neighbours. Port Nelson works hard to reduce the impact of its activities on the local and global environment.

 

Consultation is vital and the Port Nelson Environment Consultative Committee was set up in 1994 to work with environmental groups, residents, Auckland Point School, port lessees, exporters, operators, the Department of Conservation and the Nelson City Council.  This group oversees implementation of the Environmental Management Plan and considers issues such as noise, water and air quality and hears from experts on topics like bio-security. 
 

Residents wishing to get involved with the committee please contact Thomas Marchant, Environmental Officer 03 539 3861 thomas.marchant@portnelson.co.nz

 

The Port Nelson Environmental Management Plan [Click to View] sets environmental policies and Codes of Practice for Port Nelson and other operators in the port area. First published in 1996, the activities it covers are regularly reviewed and audited to ensure compliance. As a non-regulatory authority the port company depends on (and receives) excellent cooperation from others to achieve its environmental objectives. Effort, investment, cooperation, research, education and communication are vital in meeting the aims of the Port Nelson Environmental Management Plan.

Environmental Issues Register

The Environmental Issues Register is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week hotline with follow up procedures in place to ensure all environmental calls from the community are registered and dealt with promptly and effectively. The noise calls relate to ships’ generators, ships’ extractor fans, general machinery operations, and container noise. Port Nelson has conducted awareness programs with machinery operators to help them resuce noise. The port has targeted noisy vessels and now berths these ships away from residential areas, where possible.
Port Nelson has taken positive steps towards reducing the severity and frequency of dust related issues also. Monitoring of dust-prone areas has been done and Codes of Practice are in place to prevent dust problems, and improve the response time of the water truck that damps down dusty areas.

ISO14001

In 2007 we became the first port in New Zealand to receive accreditation against this internNationally recognised standard for continuous improvement in environmental management. Regular audits keep us on track with continuous improvement and meeting our objectives for managing the most significant environmental aspects of our operation.   

Noise

The 24hour operation of the Port is vital to the Nelson economy however the operations at night can affect our close neighbours. Port Nelson has lodged a variation to the Nelson Resource Management Plan with the Nelson City Council, which provides a framework for mitigating noise in affected houses in the residential area and providing management of noise at source.

Work to acoustically treat houses and to reduce noise at source as far as is practicable is overseen by a Noise Liaison Committee made up of resident’s representatives, port users, Nelson City Council and Port Nelson. Information on help available can be found in the leaflet Getting Help with Home Insulation.

 

A noise contour map identifies noise levels by location. Where noise is above designated levels the port funds acoustic treatment; for worst affected houses, an alternative option is for the company to buy homes, insulate them and resell with a proviso that owners understand the noise situation.  Alongside these noise mitigation measures, Port Nelson continues to work to minimise noise generated by port operations. We have an ongoing awareness campaign with plant operators, noise emissions are a high priority in plant purchase policies, and we have modified some plant operating systems.

Basic Information about Port Noise

What is a Noise Model?

A noise model is a computer based program that is set up to predict the emission of noise.  Port Nelson Ltd, in conjunction with acoustic experts, has developed a noise model for the port area.  The model has been calibrated against recorded measurements in the field, so that the model can be used to accurately predict noise levels from port and ship operations.

 

A comparison of the modelled results with the measured results during monitoring verified that the model developed for Port Nelson is able to closely predict the noise received at localities close to the noise sources.

However, further away from the noise source the model was less able to  predict the noise environment due to contamination from other (non-port) residents living near the port is required to be maintained through the resource management process.

 

Noise Monitoring Results

The Port Company undertook noise monitoring of specific sites in the surrounding environment between 15 April and 29 June 2003.  This is a busy period in the year for the port, being the height of the fruit season.  The monitoring locations are shown below and this information helped to verify the model.

 

Location of Noise Monitoring Stations
Base: Residence 1: Seafood Research 2: Residence 3: Residence 4: Mt. Pleasant Hairpin 5: Residence

Noise Peaks

Noise peaks (noise of short duration such as passing trucks, clangs from containers being placed on the wharf), were measured from monitoring location 3 on six nights in May 2003 with container vessels and break-bulk vessels operating at Brunt Quay.  The measurements from this monitoring show that:

 

• Typically the sources of noise recorded from the port were container bangs from cranes and forklifts picking up and placing containers
• Other noises included engines revving/whirring, voices on loud speakers and horns
• The greatest number of noise peaks (measured by Lmax) from the port related to clangs from forklift activity (60%) and were located in the storage areas
• Contribution of noise peaks from the activity of ships’ cranes and Liebherr Cranes was lower at 14% or elss, but the activities of Liebherr Cranes were noisier than ships’ cranes.

It should also be noted that there are other noise sources unrelated to the port which contribute to noise peaks from time to time.  Examples include road noise, which accounted for at least 20% of the total noise peaks.

Contribution to Noise Peaks from Port Activities Only (as monitoring locations)

 

 
Noise over a 24 Hour Period (24hr Ldn)

The 24hr Ldn is used to show the level of noise during a whole 24 hour period. The main conclusions from monitoring at site number 3 were that:

• Over a 24 hour day, periods in which container/lolo (load-on load-off) vessels and/or roro (roll-on roll-off) vessels were operating were the noisiest. This included noise associated with loading and unloading, fans and generators, for this monitoring site and period monitored.
• Periods in which fish and fuel vessels were in port were not markedly different than when no ships were in port for this monitoring site and period monitored.
The greater the number of vessels the higher the noise level for this monitoring site and period monitored
Overall, the site specific monitoring confirmed that the major sources of noise at the port is from fork-lift and crane operations in association with container and Roro vessels.

What has the Port done to reduce noise?

Like all other activities, the port company and port users have a responsibility to minimise the noise they produce. During the 1990’s, Port Nelson Ltd invested millions of dollars in property purchases to enable the relocation of the log storage areas further away from the adjoining residential areas. Just some of the measures taken to reduce noise in the past 10 years are listed below:

 

• 1994: The loudspeaker system at Sealords banned 7pm-6 am; on Vessels 10pm-6am.
• 1995: Issues register initiated.
• 1996: Log loading operations moved away from residential boundary with the major storage shift away from Haven Road in 1999 and improving the storage adjacent to Kingsford Quay in 2002.
• 1997: Operational procedures determined to minimise the noise from the wood chip loading.
• 1998: Audible alarm removed from big Liebherr Crane.
• 1999: Pressure reducers added to the high stacking forklift to slow the initial lift movement and hence reduce the clanging sound when the lifting mechanism contacts the container.
• 2000: All specifications for mobile plant require a modification that adds a strobe light to replace the auto-backing-beeper when the lights are turned on for night operations.
• 2001: Operating procedures issued to log truck operators to remove the clanging between lowered bolsters and the steel frame of the truck.
• 2002: Work with a major shipping company to quieten noisy generators on their ships.
• 2003: Awareness campaign for port noise initiated with staff; intensive noise monitoring programme on ground, April, May, June.
• 2004-5: Log operations moved further from residential areas to land formerly used for chip operation and NelMAC yard.
• 2005:  Noise Variation lodged.
• 2007: Noise Liaison Committee established.
• 2009:  New ‘spreader’ for container lifter  noise reduction systems.
• 2009:  First 3 houses acoustically insulated.  Purchase of 3 most affected houses.

Fumigation

Port Nelson is leading the way in best practice in fumigation by requiring that all fumigations are recaptured. This provides the best outcome for both staff safety and protection of the ozone layer. More information is found in the code of practice for fumigation which can be downloaded in the Environmental Management Plan.

Dredging

Dredging is required annually at Port Nelson to maintain publicised depths at berths, basins, channels and entrances in the port area. Under our Resouce Consent, granted by the Environment Court, dredging occurs at six locations across the port, these are;

• the outer channel (extends from harbour entrance to 1.8 kilometres into Tasman Bay)
• the entrance rocks
• the inner harbour channels
• the Dixon Basin approach channel
• Dixon Basin
• shipping berths

 

The type of dredge used is predominantly a trailer suction, however, a backhoe dredge is used to excavate rocks and hard material.  Both of these are contracted from outside Nelson.

Over the past 10 years, Port Nelson Ltd has dredged on average 50,000 cubic metres of material per year.  This material is disposed at an approved dump ground in the Tasman Bay, sited approximately 3.5 kilometres west of the harbour entrance.

 

Dredging is monitored regularly to ensure environmental integrity is maintained, and resource consent requirements are being adhered to. This monitoring, by the Cawthron Institute, covers both hydrological, biological and chemical testing of the disposal site and dredged material. Cawthron reports indicate no significant adverse effects from dredging at Port Nelson.

Stormwater

The port area creates a considerable catchment for stormwater. Stormwater contains some dust and tannins from log storage. In 1996 a new drain was installed to take the storm water to the sea at McGlashen Quay rather than into the boat marina which has become isolated from the Maitai since the reclamation. This was to achieve better mixing of the discolored water. The resource consent required a baseline report to be prepared including a contaminant analysis.

37 individual stormwater catchments around the port have been mapped. Each drain has a removable basket and filter which are regularly cleaned to minimise contamination to the sea. Ongoing monitoring of flows and contaminants in selected stormwater discharges form part of a long term water quality monitoring has been commissioned from the Cawthron Institute, in partnership with Nelson City Council.  A spill trailer is on hand to contain land based spills.