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Thread: New Member - Tony Skilton

  1. #21
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    Default Re: New Member - Tony Skilton


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    Default Re: New Member - Tony Skilton

    Thanks Fouro - I know her - she surely gets around!

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    Default Re: New Member - Tony Skilton

    Hi Tony.
    I used to watch from the boathouse in Onerahi as the Golden Bay turned to go around Limestone Island, I lived in Onerahi for five years in the 70s, then came back to Aus. I sailed on the coast in the 50s and 60s. and called into the cement wharf on the Konui and the Kaiapoi from Greymouth or Westport. If I remember correctly didn't one of the cement boats have a big cement block down in the chain locker to stop a leak? The crew stayed on those cement boats, could never get a job on her, when i lived in Titirangi I used to watch it coming up the .Manakau.
    Cheers Des

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  6. #24
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    Default Re: New Member - Tony Skilton

    Hi Des,
    You would be correct - getting a job on the cement ships usually required someone to create a vacancy by swallowing the anchor, or worse. Back in the 70 - 80 - 90s they were regarded as the job to have. Money for parts & proper maintenance was normally not a problem - you were owned by a cement company - you were not a shipping company. The 38-year old MVGB II has been running harder during the last 28 - 30 years than it did when new, and, as long as maintenance wasn't overlooked, she would deliver more cement in a year than the two Holcim ships could in the same period! The Cement King (Wilson's Cement) and the Golden Bay II were similar size, so, until recently, getting a fully loaded cement ship out of the Limestone Island cut at Portland has not been too much of a problem (just stir up the mud and keep going!). Back in the 70s you would have seen the 'Cement King' (built 1973) and Golden Bay I (built 1953) working from the Wilson's Cement Works at Portland. In 1989, when Fletcher Building purchased GBC, they renamed those works as the Golden Bay Cement Works.
    Swires (China Nav Bulkships) have now taken over from the Golden Bay II with a 9,000 dwt self-discharging bulk cement carrier - this thing is too deep to get a full load out, and, being Chinese-built, has yet to prove itself reliable. Thankfully, I am in no way involved with this vessel!
    Cement blocks - in the early 1980s we carried 192,000 tonnes of cement from Golden Bay (near Nelson) to Brisbane over a 3-year period until August 1984. On one voyage, a Deep Tank weld split, and the ship kept falling over to port when discharging the cargo up at the Merchantile Wharf (we were pumping bulk cement into banks of 20-tonne containers). We later found 200 tonnes of concrete in the Port Fwd Hold - resulted in returning to Wellington for two weeks, with teams of labourers working 24/7 on kango hammers to break up the lump and lift it all out via rope & buckets through the 1 metre-square access hatch. The rail ferries in the adjacent berth were bitching every night at the racket, as they would park up, go onto shore power, then couldn't sleep due to the constant hammering! I wouldn't be surprised if one of the ships had a cement block in the chain locker - it is very handy stuff, especially when carrying 4,000+ tonnes of the stuff!
    Both the 'John Wilson' (3 trips) and the Golden Bay II loaded in Westport from the Milburn silos when the GBC works were down for maintenance. It worked the other way as well, with the 'Westport' loading from Portland at times.
    It was only the Milburn/Holcim cement ships that came into Onehunga via Manukau Harbour. The 'Westport' was sold last year, Onehunga harbour and the Westport Cement Works were closed, and now Holcim import their cement to NZ from Japan to bulk silos in Auckland (via the Waitemata Harbour) and to Timaru for South Island and Wellington distribution.
    Cheers,
    Skilly

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