In the the morning light - the recovery begins
The team from Heron Construction - Martin Douglas, Tom Warren, Ray Hudson and Mark Guerin - have been closely involved in the Tutukaka recovery. The call to Martin Douglas came in on Sunday morning to assist in the cleanup following the Tsunami surge.
Martin Douglas helped the team with the moving of vessels, securing pontoons with rope, and organizing cranes to get the most dangerous of the pontoons out of the way. Boats had to be relocated from damaged pontoons, and salvage commenced on submerged vessels. The fuel was turned off, electrics off where needed, same with water. Additional mooring lines were added, as large numbers of these had been broken. The Harbour Master was contacted.
Photo: Carnage. The entire pier bent around and touched the berth across the fairway
A seabed survey was organized of the entire marina area, so decisions could be made on where product was, sunken boat bits located, submerged concrete, rocks from the sea walls, and where vessels could transition without hitting submerged items.
Bertholders were communicated with - control on all access installed. Gates were locked. The public boat ramp was locked down. As you can imagine, every boat owner wanted to inspect their vessels, and dive on them to inspect for damage. Sightseers were corralled, and areas given for them to look from.
Controls were installed with radio and messaging going through the marina office.
Email updates were dispatched to keep people informed.
Monday morning we attended a meeting with the Marina team, the Board of Trustees, a Health and Safety expert, and various divers and salvage people. What a great amount of talent was onsite ready to help.
Firstly there was a debrief of where the site was at, what was damaged, what vessels were sunk, what piles were broken, and how many missing. Then, what had been done as part of the crisis control to date. Next came the Health and Safety implications, especially with divers operating, and owners wanting to relocate partially damaged vessels. Thereafter priorities, and an overall plan for the next few days was established. Pontoons were still being lashed and tied into safe positions. Wave surges were still being experienced. Signs were installed at the entrance way stopping access to the marina.
Insurance was paramount and John Healy (Chair)was in communication with head offices for both the land and water aspects of the potential claims.
Items were discussed with regards to this ie Undercutting of sea walls, abutment damage, gangway damage, plinths submerged, pontoons cracked/ destroyed, corner brackets and pile guides damaged, through bolts exposed, whalers smashed, and piles laying on various angles ready to spear the unsuspecting. Also was the private individuals with damaged vessels, and any claims associated with that.
Photos: submerged boats
Decisions were made on restricting boat movements on the site, and all bertholders were emailed with instructions.
Next came a walkaround of the site. This showed the true implication of what was happening, navigation hazards, health and safety implications for the site. Gates were locked, traffic barriers installed. Commercial operators wanted fuel, wanted to be able to operate, and some hard calls had to be made on those operations, as a number of piles were missing, and there was no clear navigational operating fairways. Divers were dispatched to find piles and mark them with buoys
Meanwhile insurance assessors were working on submerged vessels and potential claims, so some rules had to be established to make sure divers, tow boats etc were working along with the bigger picture of operations. Areas were given to them to take vessels to, and temporary patches and airlifting commenced. Floating matsorbs were installed around submerged vessel to contain any fuel coming to the surface
What was left of the Fuel jetty had to be stabilized, and the broken part secured. The pipes were capped off to minimize pollution. The fuel jetty was shut down,
The survey showed the true extent of what was where, and this assisted the divers to locate items of interest. CCTV was rerun to see the damage unfolding, to assist in locating items, and learn what went on to help for the future.
The Fuel jetty in the surge with the first outer pile set gone, pontoon broken in half, water going over the top of the northern part of it
The insurance Council communicated with John, and an insurance overseer was nominated, and dispatched to oversee the potential claim.
An engineer was organized for oversite over floating structures
So priorities were made up
1. Health and safety paramount.
2. Lock down site- Harbour Master and Marina team
3. Communications paramount- Marina team to bertholders, contractors, & Public
4. Secure vessels to minimize loss, find alternative berthage where nesc
5. Secure floating infrastructure.
6. Mark all submerged items that could effect navigation- create clear passage
7. Commence a condition survey on structures
8. Organise a vessel / vessels for salvage
9. Remove wrecks
10. Remove structures
11. Remove pile stubs/ sea wall rocks that ended up in the fairways, and boat bits
Heron Construction dispatched their work vessel; Iona M- a 23.5m x 9.5m beam multicat with a 26 ton hiab, and 25 ton bollard Pull. Herons also provided an alloy run about work punt, & Marsden Cove Marina provided a Rigid inflatable vessel to assist.
Heron Constructions Iona M placing a concrete weight to assist in getting power to Dive Tutukaka
The Primary waterborne Insurance assessor Mark Crosby and Rob Brown from Shorewise Engineering worked through the assessments of piles, pontoons, abutments etc detailing which ones were to be removed, and what could stay. Wrecks were floated, removed or written off and pulled up the boat ramp by diggers. Commercial operators recommenced trips but had to adhere to arrival and departure times.
For the next seven days, daily meetings took place detailing the days work programs, and Health and Safety concerns and protocols. Overall, 67 piles and their stubs were found, removed and sent to lay down areas where Atlas Cranes was established. Approximately 200 lineal meters of damaged pontoons were undone, or sabre sawed through corner brackets/ pile guides & whalers to release them and then delivered to the awaiting cranes to be lifted into the designated holding areas. Multitudes of queries were answered by Marina staff and Trustees.
Many thanks to the teams that worked 7 days a week, 10 hours a day, driving vessels, operating hiabs and cranes, splitting pontoons. There were multitudes of days spent underwater, superb comms by all, and sightseers controlled. No incidents, and the marina cleaned up in quick smart time.
The next phase now starts, and that is the replacement of damaged items, plus getting rid of all the damaged materials.
Text and images provided to NZMOA by Tom Warren, Heron Construction