118 | COMMUNITY Tug Lyttelton Preservation Society “We want to preserve her place in maritime history” The coming year marks a big works programme for Tug Lyttelton. T T from page 116 “There are few remaining steam ships of this era left in New Zealand and Australia and sadly some of those are on track to be scrapped. The more that are scrapped, the more valuable our ship becomes. We want to preserve her place in maritime history. Even on wet days, we get our loyal volunteers coming out to do regular maintenance work for five or six hours at a time. They know that this 117-year-old needs them.” Also planned for the tug is a new Swissmade electric pre-heater that will dispense with the need to light the coal-fired boiler several days ahead of any planned sailing. In turn, Mike anticipates that will cut coal consumption by an estimated 60 per cent. “It will cost $70,000 to buy and install this pre-heater and so we are fundraising for that too. If we had the electric pre-heater on all the time, it would keep the ship warm and spare the boiler from wear and tear. Of course, a really critical driver for this is that it would significantly reduce our carbon emissions. “Under current pricing, we could run the pre-heater for a week for the same price as a tonne of coal. Going forward, it will save us money as well as reducing our carbon footprint.” “There are few remaining steam ships of this era left in New Zealand and Australia and sadly some of those are on track to be scrapped.” Another challenge for the tug’s volunteers is that her current berthing spot in the port’s security zone makes it difficult to gain access to the ship. Mike says it complicates jobs that previously would have been easy and routine, such as cleaning the bilges out. “We respect that the Lyttelton Port Company is a commercial operation and that we’re there by their grace, but we encourage them to move us to another public access berth. We think there is one that’s suitable and that could work. Negotiations are ongoing.” Meanwhile, Mike says a major sponsorship event is being planned for March or April 2024. “We’ll be inviting the big shipping companies, including container shipping and cruise companies, to come on board and support us.” All donations are welcome. Click on the ‘make a donation’ button on the Tug Lyttelton Preservation Society website: www.tuglyttelton.co.nz Quality ISO 9001 Registered elarc. Kelford Engineering Services Limited 173 Maces Rd, Christchurch, New Zealand Phone: (03) 381 4499 E: enquiries@kelfordengineering.co.nz www.kelfordengineering.co.nz BOILERS ARE YOUR LIFEBLOOD AND OUR LIVELIHOOD Emergency Boiler Service / Boiler Inspections / Repairs and Maintenance / Boiler Installations Combustion Tuning / Portable Boiler Hire / KESB Electrical Steam Boilers / Parts and Servicing PROUD TO BE A SERVICE PROVIDER TO TUG LYTTELTON Casting Shop Ltd 5 Watts Rd, ChCh | 03 341 6070 | info@castingshop.co.nz | castingshop.co.nz We melt various metals, utilising three mould making processes, including Sand and Investment Casting.
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