Port Chalmers

Port Chalmers is a small harbor town with 1280 inhabitants ( 2006) and is 15 km from the city center Dunedin, New Zealand directly on the Otago Harbour. Although Port Chalmers looks pretty on its own, but part of the place to the city of Dunedin and is assumed to be one of the 72 area units Dunedin since the administrative reform in the 1980s, according to administratively.

History

On April 26, 1844 Frederick Tuckett landed in Deborah Bay on the Otago Harbour, with the mission of the New Zealand Company to seek an appropriate location for the settlement and city founding of New Edinburgh, Dunedin today. Apart from still earlier contacts european stocky whale and seal catcher with the region, then this date, the first striking point in the history of Port Chalmers dar. In July 1844 buy Tuckett from the maori 162 acres of land, known as the Otago block. The deal was completed in the Koputai Bay, the place where the city center is now with the port.

On February 23, 1846 Charles Henry Kettle reached the plans Koputai Bay, created establishing Port Chalmers, now named after the mathematician, professor of moral philosophy and leader of the Free Church of Scotland, Thomas Chalmers. Then he moved to the end of the Bay of Otago Harbour around here planning for the city's founding of New Edinburgh make.

Then the first 347 Scottish settlers arrived on 23 March and on 15 April 1848 two ships, led by Captain William Cargill and the Reverend Thomas Burns, in Port Chalmers on.

Port Chalmers has been quite fast to the largest and most important harbor and port of Otago was founded in 1848 for the Dunedin region. To cope with the ever-growing freight and passenger transport was better, in 1872 a railway line between Port Chalmers and Dunedin inaugurated and put into operation. 1879, the first telephone office in New Zealand Port Chalmers was at the same time located with Portobello, on the other side of the Otago Harbour, installed. Worldwide, the first shipment of frozen meat came from Port Chalmers. Fully loaded with meat and butter put the SS Dunedin on February 15, 1882 from the port of destination London.

When the navigation channel was dredged in the Upper Harbour from Port Chalmers to Dunedin for seagoing vessels in the 1880s, Port Chalmers lost its leading position as a seaport towards Dunedin.

Nearly a century later, in the 1970s, the tide turned again in favor of Port Chalmers. The ever-increasing export of timber was the port of Port Chalmers ascent. The harbor was expanded and became the first container port in New Zealand. 1977 was deleted with the Godwit the first container ship.

Port Chalmers is now reckoned the third largest harbor in New Zealand by cargo value and with the main export port in New Zealand for international sea freight. The port achieved in 2006 with 280 employees a volume of about 177 million NZ $.

To meet the container ships the next generation can meet, the harbor and the fairway of the Lower Harbour from 2007 is to be expanded. This ships should be possible with up to 6000 containers capacity and a length of 320 meters and 14.5 meters draft to proceed to the port.