Log Transportation – Port Underwood to Shakespeare Bay
Forestry History
Pinus Radiata began to be planted extensively in the Port Underwood area in the 1970s. After the Northbank plantations it forms the next most extensive area in Marlborough. From the present annual extraction rate of mature timber of approximately 50,000 tonnes/year harvesting is to increase to a peak of 220,000 tonnes in 2007.
In 1976, the then Marlborough County Council, during the course of a forestry planning approval and obviously aware of future problems, gave a clear instruction that “the formed public road between Hakahaka Bay and Picton (that is the Port Underwood and Waikawa Roads) shall not be used as a transport route for logging trucks associated with the commercial forestry operations of the applicant’s forest….”. In approving this particular forestry plantation the Council ended by noting “That a substantial part of the general Port Underwood area had already been planted in exotic forests”.
It is clear, from the above, that the intention was that mature timber should be extracted by means other than road haulage. That, of course, would mean a barging operation. At some stage since 1976, and for reasons not at present known, that requirement has been allowed to lapse.
In 1996, a group of concerned residents living along the roads in question organised a petition to the Marlborough District Council that specifically asked the Council “to take all steps available to limit the damage at present being done to the Port Underwood Road by logging activities and, by so doing, to reduce the risks to other users of this road, the Waikawa road and other roads leading to the log storage area on the west side of Picton harbour.” In receiving this petition, the Council thanked the petitioners and assured them that they would “pursue avenues available to us to minimise any adverse affects.” One month later a further letter was received giving details of various consultations undertaken and ending with “As we continue to make progress we will advise you further.” Since then………nothing! Thousands of man hours have been spent repairing and up-grading the roads and logging traffic has increased.
Accidents to Date
There have been two reported accidents involving private cars and logging rigs. In the first, a car was hit and forced off the Port Underwood Road on a corner above Beech’s Bay and, in the second, a car was struck by a logging rig on a corner between Karaka Point and Sunshine Bay. Also, there is much anecdotal evidence of near misses, some from truck drivers themselves.
Here, it would be remiss not to observe that road haulage drivers must be placed under enormous stress. They are the meat between the sandwich. They have a job to do for their employers in very difficult conditions on roads that were never designed for public use combined with such heavy commercial use. The responsibilty placed on them to do their job and to avoid accidents and injury to others is a heavy one indeed. For the most part, they deserve sympathy not castigation.
Other noted effects
Marlborough Roads, on their own initiative, have conducted investigations into noise, vibration and atmospheric pollution from CO2 emissions along the Waikawa Road. It is understood that the investigations have confirmed that these are valid concerns.
The future
Unless something is done to curtail road haulage of logs the future is bleak indeed. By 2007 it is estimated that the harvest from the Port Underwood area will be 220,000 tonnes for that year. This will equate to 15,700 truck movements (both ways) over a 150 day working year; or, to put it another way, 105 movements/day. That would be one movement past any one spot every 4.68 minutes of an 8 hour working day and half of those would be fully loaded truck and trailer units.
The Effect on Roads
The damage through wear is ongoing and the expense of repair work far exceeds the road haulage operators’ Road User Charge contributions. In fact, RUCs can be said to be based on input required to repair normal road wear and tear caused by a standard activity level such as can be seen in any agricultural area.
To bring the above comment into perspective, it is a recognised road transport assumption that one loaded logging truck using a road equates to 6,000 cars…..apply that to the figures two paragraphs above!
Conclusions
Unless something is done to remove loaded logging trucks and trailers from these roads the future is not only bleak, it is horrifyingly so. Can you imagine the effect on High Street Picton alone? What a happy holiday venue that would be for tourists visiting and using the facilities so recently installed!
There is only one viable alternative and that is to barge all logs directly from Onapua Bay, off Tory Channel, to the Shakespeare Bay log assembly and loading facility. Of course there will be an added expense for the forestry owners and they will campaign for a subsidy from somewhere or other. That may, or may not, eventuate. If it doesn’t, then hard luck. Perhaps a little forethought before forestry establishment would have produced the realisation that road haulage is not always a viable option and that another method of transportation of logs would have to be used….in this case, barging. That extra expense could then have been considered before committing the area to forestry.
Although it can be argued that a country’s road system is for the use of all that doesn’t neccessarily give the OK for an unreasonable use of a road causing regular inconvenience to others. In fact, there are examples from English Common Law to show that Courts have concluded that such use can be construed as an unlawful one. In New Zealand, furthermore, we have the Resource Management Act and, as the original petitioners said to the Council back in 1996, Section 314 of that Act specifically allows for applications for enforcement orders where adverse effects on the environment are to be avoided, remedied or mitigated.
The Guardians of the Sounds know that Councillors and staff are fully aware of this problem, and others of a like type brewing in the province, and are fully committed to addressing it and coming to a workable solution. We give them our support and encouragement for the difficult job they have ahead of them.
The Guardians continue to pursue this matter, regularly meet with other local organisations with similar views and interests and keep in close contact with the Marlborough District Council.