Cranes to go to island community
Cranes at Kapowai and Elmslie Bay jetties in the Marlborough Sounds are to be refurbished and handed over to the D’Urville Island Settlers Association.
Currently the electric cranes are owned and operated by Council and used by fishers to unload their catch, residents to load fuel and supplies and beekeepers to load honey.
At January’s Assets and Services Meeting, Steve Murrin from Marlborough Roads said Council had inherited the cranes from the Marlborough Harbour Boad when it was disestablished in the late 1980s. Council had since managed and maintained them as they are were an essential connection between the island and the mainland.
The cranes are now coming to the end of their lives and need refurbishment to gain certification. Once handed over to the association, the community would be able to apply for maintenance grants, Mr Murrin said.
Sounds Ward Councillor Barbara Faulls said the cranes were a valuable piece of equipment for the island community, particularly with the recent loss of fuel supply at French Pass.
“The cranes are an essential connection to the island and also used by Marlborough Roads and DOC,” she said.
Mayor Nadine Taylor said: “The cranes are critical and gifting them to the community - which knows them best and uses them - is the best way forward,” she said. “It’s not a shifting of responsibility as Council will still be standing by.”
The cranes will be gifted once their capability and ownership is confirmed.