Subscribe to RSSStill No Home For Tank Farm
Here’s another Auckland issue that needs to get resolved.
Bulk liquids are currently stored at the Wynyard Quarter and constitute a significant proportion of the bulk liquids storage for the Auckland Region.
Future plans for Wynyard Quarter, combined with the bulk liquids companies’ leases expiring, require the relocation of the bulk liquids storage tanks.
But where?
A report to today’s ARC transport and urban development committee says that while a significant amount of work has been undertaken in the past on the issue, still “no obvious or widely accepted alternative locations have been identified. All options have a range of environmental, economic and amenity implications.”
The Auckland Regional Council has passed resolutions in support of the seamless transition of the bulk liquids industry from Wynyard Quarter, including associated technology for transportation and storage, to alternative location(s) in the Auckland region. The council requested officers to progress this work with the industry.
The likely cost is obviously one thing causing some indecision.
If the terminal operators relocate within Auckland, new tanks and infrastructure could cost $50m and loss of between 50 to 290 jobs. But they may relocate out of Auckland to somewhere like Tauranga.
Tank Farm, now to be referred to as Wynyard Quarter
A working group has agreed, ‘in principle’, to undertake some further work over the next few months and meets next week to progress:
- Confirmation of industry functional requirements (review of existing work)
- Review of international trends in relation to the transport and storage of bulk liquids (including new technology and piping approaches) and approaches to industry relocation and expansion in other jurisdictions
- Review of current and future planned industrial land in the Auckland region
- Critical review of existing options and identification of new options, e.g. any other suitable industrial land, options on the Manukau Harbour and new technology and piping approaches
- Development of evaluation criteria
- Review of resource management and planning considerations (update of existing work)
- Application of evaluation criteria to identify a short list of preferred option(s)
- Detailed feasibility of preferred option(s)
The group will report to the new Auckland supercouncil early next year.
5 Comments
Reclaim more of the eastern end of ports of Auckland main area for a new tank farm?
Relocating to the manukau harbour would be terrific. The port at Onehunga could be expanded and it’s right on the newly upgraded railway and harbor bridge doubling. It would also be a great way to create jobs in South Auckland.
Andrew, one assumes the tanks would need to be on the Waitemata. Manukau Harbour does not have the best access for ships (shallow sand bar with tricky entrance), which is one of the reasons it got sidelined more and more, historically. Not saying it is impossible to access, but much less attractive on that count.
I think some more POAL reclamation might indeed serve best, unless it isn’t cost-efficient.
Relocating is said to cost 50 mil, until the industry is obsolete, relocating is just spending more money trying to hide the “problem” The industrial form is remarkable, about time we start appreciating it.
The ideal thing would be to move the entire port (container terminal, tank farm, the lot) to a new facility on the Manukau at Puhinui reserve, right next to the airport. This would have excellent rail and motorway connections and would be close to most industry in south Auckland.
The main issue is of course the need to dredge a huge shipping channel through the heads and right across the Harbour. Based on a recent dredging of Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, this could cost about half a billion dollars.
However the expense could be more than offset by the freeing up of over 80 hectares of prime waterfront development land, which would be worth more than two billion dollars.