Total Cargo Records	Cargoes Shipped Domestically	Onehunga Wharf
Vessel Tonnage & Movement Records	Cargoes Shipped Abroad	Marcus Lush, "North", from 2011
Features of the Manukau Coastline	From The Bar To The Port	Auckland's Forgotten Port
Meaning And Origins	AHB Cargo Statistics	Potential Connections

Surrounded by 520 kilometres of coastline, 200 kilometres of which is bounded by publicly-owned lands, the Manukau Harbour is one of the most extensive inlets on New Zealand's west coast - the second largest natural harbour in the country, in fact. It also has the greatest ebb and flow of water of any harbour in the country, with tides consistently rising and falling anywhere between twelve and eighteen feet. It has a water surface area of 394 square kilometres - roughly four times the water area of the Waitemata, but a large part of the Harbour consists of tidal sandbanks, so that navigation is restricted to several clearly defined channels. The two main ones leading from the Harbour entrance to Onehunga are the Wairopa Channel, which hugs the northern shoreline, and the Purakau, or South, Channel, which follows a course further out in the Harbour. Two arms of this deeply indented Harbour, the Waiuku in the south and the Papakura in the south-east, also have channels leading to the Manukau Heads. The Harbour entrance is one mile (1.8 kilometres) wide. Due to this, and prevailing coastal currents, there's a ten-mile-long sandbar which curves several miles offshore across the Harbour entrance. The presence of the bar restricted the use of the harbour to vessels of up to 1000 tons for several years. Both position and navigable channels through it vary from time to time. Turbulent conditions prevail at all times. At low tide the water's depth at the harbour entrance is 5.5m. At night, the South Head is marked by a flashing light, while various day marks about the Harbour entrance assist movements during that period. The tidal nature of the harbour sees the water surface reduce from 340 square kilometres at mean high water (ordinary spring tide) to 195 square kilometres at mean low water. Between low and high tides, 450 million cubic metres (neap) and 690 million cubic metres (spring) of water flow between the Tasman Sea and the inner harbour. It can take up to a month for the harbour to be completely flushed. The harbour is 20 kilometres wide at its widest north-south point, and 15 kilometres wide at its widest east-west point. Situated at 36" 56' South and 174" 47' East, the Port of Onehunga is sited on the north-east side of the Manukau Harbour, twenty-seven kilometres from the Tasman Sea entrance. The rail-served port is within a few kilometres of the large Penrose,

Otahuhu, Wiri and Westfield industrial areas of South Auckland. The controlling depth within the main (south-west) channel is 3.3 metres. Spring tides vary from 3.4 metres, while neap tides range from 2 metres. Since March 1964, the main wharf berthage length has been 282 metres, with depths alongside the wharf varying from 3.5 metres to 5 metres. A $700,000 roll-on-roll-off ramp is in place, while good servicing facilities are available for trawler berths. Transit sheds consist of 3500 square metres of covered storage, plus open trading areas. Cargo-handling plant is available from private companies and Ports of Auckland when required. Records of harbour dredging date back to 1925. From 1975 until early this century, disposal of dredgings took place off the western tip of Puketutu Island. An average of 10,000 cubic metres of sediment was dredged annually - 7000 from the fishing basin, and 3000 from the wharf area. The dredger could be filled to her 76 cubic metre capacity in up to 2.5 hours, so two round trips to the disposal site per day, each taking ninety minutes, were possible. Between the early 1960s and 1989, 175,000 cubic metres of sediment was dredged from the vicinity of the Port. Sediment from Onehunga dredging work nowadays is disposed of in the reclamation area at the north-east corner of the Fergusson container terminal. Prior to the 1920s, Onehunga was a frequent port of call for coastal vessels operating to the likes of Hokianga, Kaipara, Raglan, Kawhia, Waitara, New Plymouth and South Island ports, carrying passengers and cargo. Indeed, according to a June 1966 report written by Auckland Harbour General Manager, R.T. Lorimer, entitled "The Twin Ports of Auckland - Their Growth and Future Development", at one stage Onehunga almost rivalled Auckland as a port when considerable amounts of puriri logs and kauri gum were exported. Further, if adequate deep water entrance had been available, it is quite possible that the direct shipping route from Sydney to Onehunga would have developed, possibly changing the pattern of port development at Auckland. The port's heyday preceded the completion of the North Island main trunk railway. Until that was established, the main link between Auckland and the south was the passenger steamer service between Onehunga and New Plymouth supplied by the Northern Steamship Company, more often than not using the ship "Rarawa". Other passenger services during this time saw Raglan, Kawhia, Hokianga, Kaipara and Port Waikato as destinations on offer.

After record low tonnage figures in the early 1930s, which were repeated in the late 1940s, the 1950s saw the advent of new ships and a spectacular increase in the tonnage of goods handled at Onehunga, but this tapered off from the mid-1960s. Aiding this boost was the decision by the Auckland Harbour Board to improve road and rail access to the wharf, provide additional shed space and improved amenities for workers, and reclaim land - an investment of 147,300 pounds. Most trade, by this time, was from South Island ports, while Onehunga became a frequent starting point for voyages to the Pacific Islands for the best part of thirty years from 1965. Trans-tasman services were a brief feature at Onehunga between 1985 and 1991. Approximately 8000 containers were handled annually in this trade, while up to 700 containers were handled each year for the Pacific Islands trade, which also saw 10,000 tonnes of non-containerised cargo handled per annum. Save for one-off calls, Onehunga has primarily been frequented by the vessels of two regular clients since 1993. Pacifica Shipping's move to bigger tonnage saw them withdraw from the Port in late 2012, and when Holcim announced its vision for the future of cement distribution in New Zealand six months later, Onehunga's days as a freight handling port were numbered. It continues to be a major haven for the fishing industry, however, but the Liquigas-operated LPG Marine Terminal in the Papakura Channel is no longer utilised. And from 22 February, 2017, shipping at the Port of Onehunga is no more. Former Auckland Harbour Board Chairman, Harry Julian, had this to say about the Port in his 1999 autobiography, "Sea In My Blood". "Onehunga was a good wharf to work, with watersiders who made every effort to turn a ship around quickly. The Manukau Bar was a drawback for shipping as it could only be crossed safely in daylight hours. A missed tide could mean a delay of up to 24 hours or sometimes even longer because of onshore gales". Go here for a good account of life at the harbour entrance by Peter Jessup. And go here to read a survey report on the harbour conducted in 1853 by "HMS Pandora"! Information in the above commentary was sourced from: Ports of Auckland Ltd ; Executive Summary, Proposed Manukau Harbour Maritime Planning Scheme, 1989; Water right application and management plan to discharge marine dredgings from Port of Onehunga into the Purakau Channel, Manukau Harbour - prepared for Ports of Auckland Ltd by Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner