On the wave of industry

Ship Constructors Limited, posi tioned on the edge of Whangarei Harbour in the midst of New Zealand’s North Island heavy shipbuild ing industry, has built 48 vessels since the yard opened in 1990.

Its 12,000m 2 waterfront complex is capable of building steel vessels up to 110 metres in length, 30 metres in beam and up to 2000 tonnes in launching weight.

The company is currently building two 15-metre twin-screw coastal tugboats and three 28-metre ore barges for an offshore client and a 35-metre ocean-going twin screw towing tug, Ship Constructors Limited built Sea- Tow 4, the largest barge ever built in New Zealand, in 20 weeks from keel laying to launching. The barge measured 97 metres LOA with a beam of 24 metres, a depth of

six metres and a deadweight capacity of 8000 tonnes.

The company has its own in-house design facility using both manual drafting and CAD or it will build to owners’

designs and specificatons. Ship

Constructors Ltd has earned a reputation for producing high-quality vessels at com petitive rates, which are delivered on time.

In 1992, the company won the tender to build six 48-metre flat-top gravel barges for the South Island’s Clyde Dam tailrace deepening project. The vessels were each built in'four 42-tonne sections which were carried by barge Sea-Tow 17, (also built by Ship Constructors Ltd) to the South Island’s Port of Timaru and transported overland to Alexandra where the sections were assembled on the river bank and the completed barges side launched into the river.

Other work to date includes coastal tugboats, a 22-metre trawler yacht, a 38metre super motor yacht hull and various other barges. Of the 48 vessels Ship Constructors Ld has built to date, 29 of these have been for export to Pacific Island counties. ■