28 | Ship repair business gears up for growth Sue Russell Heron Ship Repair REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT • Production Engineering • Abrasive Blasting & Painting • Hot Dip Galvanising AVON INDUSTRIES LTD 31 Pipiwai Road, Kamo PO Box 27, Whangarei New Zealand Ph: 64 9 435 1033 Fax: 64 9 435 2565 Email: avonind@callplus.net.nz www.avonindustries.co.nz Proud to support Heron Ship Repair Ltd Fonterra’s two Northland sites – Kauri and Maungaturoto – process around 4.5m litres of milk per day in a 24/7 operation with 33 tankers on the road this season. Kauri employs a total of approximately 310 staff comprised of around 280 shift workers and operational staff and the rest administration and support services. Rowan says Fonterra is hugely important to Northland in terms of job opportunities as well as revenue flowing out into the local economy. Fonterra employs close to 12,000 employees in New Zealand and Rowan says Fonterra is a great place to work with many people not aware of the huge variety of roles on offer. “We go along to career days at schools and kids often don’t realise they could work at Fonterra as a scientist, technologist, doctor, lab technician, truck driver, mechanic, microbiologist etc. Fonterra is about so much more than just milk.” Rowan is a case in point. He’s spent over 25 years working for Fonterra. After starting as a maintenance technician he moved into supervisory roles then later operations management. He says Fonterra offers strong career development paths with robust on boarding and recruitment processes. “It’s certainly been an awesome career for myself and my family. At Fonterra you reap the rewards. We’re always looking for new people; we’ve got vacancies today.” Doing Good Together Kauri Site Operations Manager Rowan Hartigan says that a sustainable future for Fonterra is core to its strategy to create long-term value for future generations. To achieve this Fonterra is focused on three interconnected goals – healthy people, a Boost to local economy from page 26 Whangarei: Fonterra - Kauri In March 2018 Whangarei-based Ship Repair NZ was purchased by Heron Construction, adding that name to its title to reflect the change in ownership. The acquisition process was seamless with Heron Ship Repair retaining all its employees and work continuing as normal. Shortly after the purchase Heron Ship Repair was the target of significant investment by its new owners, recognising the value of upgrading existing infrastructure given the businesses location in one of just four deep water harbours. The then 60 year old steel slipway cradle was replaced and modernised. This work was completed in February 2020, when the refurbished cradle welcomed two tugs for repair and maintenance. Nick Eilering is General Manager at Heron Ship Repair and has been with the business 12 years, initially as Project Manager. The shipyard is located right up the river at Main 4 where a 120m wharf allows plenty of space for all manner of vessel to dock. The slipway is capable of handling vessels up to 1800 tonne and 90m in length. “We work in closely with projects that Heron Construction Ltd engage in, offering general engineering, structural fabrication, new building fabrication and welding services along with all the ship repair services. It works very well and keeps us all busy on site,” says Nick. Today, Heron Ship Repair employs 64 staff and Nick says while they would be open to employing more staff, given the nature of the work and projects they get involved in, its very important that the person employed has the right attitude, work ethic and ability to be a great team member. In his role, his main responsibilities lie in supporting existing projects to be completed well, to procure new work and to undertake contract pricing. Fixed price contracts are less common, given supply and materials price increases. “I’m really overseeing everything but we have a very experienced team on board, many of whom have been with us a long time.” Whangarei has two ship repair businesses but Nick says the main competition stems from Nelson. NZ Maritime Law requires all registered commercial vessels to be surveyed every five years. It’s the role of the Surveyor to set the minimum requirements of work to be undertaken. HSR is a significant business within the Whangarei marine hub and with longer term plans that may see the Ports of Auckland relocate to Whangarei and rail links established north, the timing of the upgrade couldn’t have been better. “We’re preparing for an increase in work as a result of regional developments. The marine industries generally are really impacting positively on regional growth with many businesses working in that sector.” Sitting within the wider Heron Construction group is Heron Marina, which, like Heron Ship Repair, allies its services with Heron Construction. The company build marinas, using SF Floats and the resources of Heron Construction and Heron Ship Repair, along with maintenance of floating structures, including pontoons, breakwaters, fingers, piling, mudcrete and seal walls. Most of the vessels that come on shore to be repaired and surveyed are between 20 and 40 years of age, making it critical that important maintenance work is assessed and carried out. “We intend to keep growing as demand for our array of services grows.” “It’s certainly been an awesome career for myself and my family. At Fonterra you reap the rewards.” Fonterra’s Kauri site has taken out the Best Medium Site trophy at Fonterra’s annual Best Site Cup Awards for the second year in a row. healthy environment and a healthy business. A key part of this is supporting the local community. Rowan says that through Fonterra’s Hapori initiative the community can reach out to Fonterra for sponsorship for projects which involve giving the community access to quality nutrition, protect and regenerate the natural environment or help keep communities strong. Fonterra Kauri has been involved with a range of projects from plantings at local schools to supplying a water tanker and product for the Waitangi Day anniversary at the treaty grounds to supporting food or safety equipment donations. It’s part of Fonterra’s transition to a more sustainable way of dairying and has also seen Fonterra working to improve the health and biodiversity of land and water by having a regenerative mind set, reducing the impacts of farming and manufacturing. Part of this is the transition to a low-carbon future by investing in innovation and infrastructure to remove greenhouse gas emissions from the Fonterra supply chain. For example Rowan says that Fonterra Kauri has just introduced electric vehicles to its support fleet with the goal of having this part of the fleet fully electric in coming years. He says that reducing waste and recycling over the Kauri plant is another important focus because using resources wisely is a key aspect of dairying for the future. 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