Some call her a heavy load carrier. We like to call her a ship-shipping ship. Whatever your preference she’s called 'Yacht Express' and she’s here to deliver seven yachts that will spend time cruising New Zealand waters.

When she leaves on Sunday 24 January she’ll be taking with her 14 others - off to cruise other parts of the world.

This time last year local agents McKay Shipping were expecting twice as many vessels to be delivered to NZ on this call, in time for the America's Cup. But COVID-19 has had an impact, resulting in just seven being delivered.

Kiwifruit exporters are making good use of the seasonal fortnightly shipping service by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) directly from Northport to Brisbane and Singapore, and from there to the rest of the world. About half of all kiwifruit exported from Northland now leave on this service, initiated three years ago, up from 25 percent in the first year.

Our team is proud to have played an important role in the development of the new ferry terminal in central Auckland.

Nine modules for the terminal’s pontoon were built locally by Ruakaka-based SPIIND Industrial Engineers at its facility on Marsden Point Road. These were all put into the water at Northport and towed by tug to Auckland.

The heavy modules were lifted by our two mobile harbour cranes which, between them, can manage loads of 225 tonnes. We conducted six tandem lifts over an 18-month period.