4 November 2015

Improved facilities for ferry customers

A new pier is now being used by ferry customers to Gulf Harbour, Hobsonville and Beach Haven, Coromandel and Tiritiri Matangi

Auckland Transport has today opened the new facility at Pier 4 at the Downtown Ferry Terminal. It replaces the old pier which was closed at the beginning of September.

Ferry Services Manager Gareth Willis says the old pier was 16 years old. “The new pontoon and gangway is a great improvement for our customers, there is now a covered gangway which provides shelter for customers from bad weather or the afternoon sun. With the gangway being wider it also means better access for people using wheelchairs and baby strollers”.

The new pontoon has two different boarding heights which allows larger vessels to use it, and also additional safety lighting, CCTV cameras and repositioned AT HOP card readers.

“These improvements to facilities for our ferry customers are really important to us. Customer comfort is an important part of the overall experience for passengers, particularly as patronage across all ferry services continues to see growth in excess of 8% on 2014 levels,” says Gareth Willis.

The new 28 metre concrete pontoon was fabricated at Total Marine Services’ fabrication yard in West Auckland. Six concrete units, each weighing 25 tonnes, were transported to Silo Park in Wynyard Quarter where they were connected using steel through rods.

The pontoon was then floated around Princes Wharf and into its new position at Pier 4 and secured to new anchor piles.

The new gangway was fabricated by Manson Marine in West Auckland.

ENDS

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