Port Marlborough says the 2021 and 2022 storms lifted the Havelock channel’s estimated maintenance dredging from about 1,500 to 20,000 cubic metres every five years. Contractors arrive on 9 November to prepare for dredging and to rebuild part of the marina, with completion scheduled for December 2027.
Isaac Construction sets up at Havelock Marina on Monday 9 November to begin resetting the channel linking Havelock with the Pelorus and Kenepuru Sounds. Piers D and E are due out in December, and dredging in their basin is scheduled for January.
Port Marlborough’s five-yearly maintenance estimate is now more than 13 times the historical figure. Chief executive Rhys Welbourn said in Port Marlborough’s 4 November announcement: “The storms that damaged the Kenepuru Road also fundamentally changed the scale of the problem, and with the volume of dredging now required, the cost of maintaining the channel has increased significantly. Finding a financially sustainable, long-term solution has been a priority for us.”
A tidal approach made harder
Havelock was never a channel to take lightly. In 2016 the Picton harbourmaster’s channel guidance warned of shallow water and shifting sandbanks outside the markers, and told boats drawing more than a metre to transit only on the top half of the tide.
The July 2021 and August 2022 storms caused about 8000 landslides across Marlborough, RNZ reported, and Kenepuru Road was among the worst-hit routes. Port Marlborough says the same storms accelerated sedimentation in the channel. Its March 2025 funding announcement described shallower water at low tide, delays for aquaculture vessels and reduced berth access for commercial operators and residents.
David Eagle, who lives aboard at Havelock with his family, told Local Democracy Reporting’s Kira Carrington in October 2025 that he could only get into the marina at high tide. “The channel depth at the moment is so congested with sediment that it’s become dangerous,” he said, adding that a neighbouring boat had run aground and damaged its propeller.
According to Port Marlborough, Havelock is the marine link for about 950 permanent residents and 130 businesses in the two Sounds, and around 80 per cent of Marlborough’s aquaculture production is landed there.
Resetting the channel
The channel will be reset along its full length, inside and outside the marina boundary, then held with dredging campaigns every five years. The contractor’s start works notice covers parts of the basin around Piers D to G and the channel out past Cullen Point. Welbourn told Local Democracy Reporting the port would also carry out “more frequent hydrographic surveys based on the new weather patterns”.
Sediment will be dewatered at the marina and trucked to a site just south of Havelock, which the operator says will be restored to pasture.
A new marina edge
Port Marlborough plans to replace the timber D, E and F jetties with floating concrete pontoons and add a 20m jetty for visiting boats and Sounds residents. A separate jetty contractor is expected in late March 2027. Ashore, the waterside edge of the carpark from Piers C to G is being raised and rock-armoured.
Living with it through summer
Carpark work pauses for the peak season, with the C to G carpark reopening from 18 December to 9 February before closing again until June 2027. The boat ramp and main marina road are to stay open throughout, and the contractor says navigation markers, harbourmaster alerts and radio calls will accompany the dredging. Displaced berth holders will have priority to return to the new jetties, according to a May project update.
Paying for it
The work is backed by a $9.9 million loan from the Government’s Regional Infrastructure Fund, with Port Marlborough meeting the other half of the $19.8 million project.
A community drop-in session is scheduled for Wednesday 25 November, and Isaac Construction has promised monthly updates.
Media Release: Work begins to restore Havelock channel and modernise marina
