CentrePort Vision A Clear Way Forward For The Waterfront

Yesterday morning, CentrePort shared their vision for Wellington’s port and waterfront and received a positive response from the Wellington Chamber of Commerce and the business attendees.

"The port plays a significant role in our city and regional economy, so to see CentrePort’s vision for the future of that space and an important part of our city gives us confidence for the future," says John Milford, Chief Executive of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.

"A lot of Wellington’s appeal comes from our proximity to the water. So, adding more commercial opportunities and optimizing the use of our wharf space will add more reasons to come and enjoy the CBD. It’ll also provide better urban integration between the stadium and the railway station, and Courtenay Place precinct.

"The port is a critical piece of infrastructure for Wellington and the lower North Island. The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake showed us just how much our importers and exporters rely on the port as a link to the rest of the world.

"Adding capacity for the likes of 300,000 containers and 2.3 million logs will be an attractive opportunity for shipping companies and our businesses here in the region. It means that as businesses grow here, the freight infrastructure will be there to support them, both in exporting and importing.

The port is also forecast to support 36,000 jobs, both directly and indirectly, by 2022 and will have a GDP value of $3.5 billion.

"CentrePort’s sustainable practices should also be congratulated. They were one of the finalists at last year’s Gold Awards for their project recycling old building materials and it is important they continue to find ways innovative ways to reduce waste and their carbon emissions.

"And it is important they continue to find ways innovative ways to reduce waste and their carbon emissions. Then $15 million investment New Zealand Green Investment Finance has given them to help with the rollout of electric vehicles certainly shows they are moving in the right direction.

"We got to give credit to Derek and the whole team at CentrePort. It has been a long journey to get to this point - three years to get the insurance pay-out agreed to - but they’ve been working behind the scenes this whole time to ensure that when they did, they had a vision.

"Add to that, managing on-site earthquake damage, and the Covid-19 lockdown and restrictions, and you could say they’ve done extremely well to come up with their vision.

"The relationship between Wellington’s Port and Chamber of Commerce goes all the way back to the Chamber’s founding in 1856, when the paramount issue at the time for merchants and businesspeople was inefficient harbour infrastructure which was slowing down cargo handling processes."

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