One of the first big ships to be hosted following Port of Tauranga's channel dredging programme will be the giant cruise ship Ovation of the Seas.

Port chief executive Marks Cairns has revealed that the monster liner, which can host more than 5000 passengers, will visit the region on its maiden voyage to New Zealand in the summer of 2016/17.

The Ovation of the Seas is currently under construction in Germany. Photos: Meyer Werft/Royal Caribbean.

The newest Royal Caribbean cruise ship is 348 metres long, more than 50 metres high, and can also accommodate 1500 crew members.

The 167,800 tonne sister ship to the Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas is currently under construction at the Meyer Werft yard in Papenberg in north-west Germany and is expected to launch next April.

In 2014/15, some 84 cruise ships brought nearly 150,000 passengers to the Bay of Plenty, generating an estimated $35 million spent over the course of the season.

'We consider facilitating the growth in cruise ship visits is very important in terms of the port's licence to operate in the community,” says Mark.

Danish company, Rohde Nielsen, began the dredging project earlier this month with the 2000 cubic metre Brage R. It will be joined by the much larger dredge – the 6000 cubic metre Balder R – by the end of the year.

The dredging project is the culmination of a five-year, $350 million investment programme intended to future-proof the port for the next 20 to 30 years and make it the first in the country able to host container ships with a capacity of 6500 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) at low water tides.

Port of Tauranga has also ordered two more super post-panamax size gantry cranes for the container terminal at Sulphur Point, in order to continue to provide customers with high-end productivity and unrivalled berth and crane intensity options.

The team at the container terminal can regularly sustain vessel productivity rates in excess of 120 moves per hour, with another record being set during the year on the Maersk Triple Star vessel.

The two new cranes will be delivered towards the end of 2016.

The Port of Tauranga agreement with Kotahi has contributed to an increase of 12 per cent in containers handled by the port.

'We are now handling 95 per cent of the North Island's dairy exports, with lower North Island cargoes from Whareroa and Pahiatua dairy factories now being consolidated across our quays,” says Mark.\

'Trans-shipped cargo – which is transferred from one ship to another at the port – increased another 17 per cent in volume, which is a clear indication of Tauranga's emergence as New Zealand's hub port.

'We expect container volumes will exceed one million TEUs in the 2017 financial year upon completion of the dredging project.”

Imports increased eight per cent to 6.9 million tonnes, while imported fertilisers increased seven per cent in volume, but grain imports decreased 13 per cent, reflecting mixed fortunes in agriculture.

The increase in imported cargo has resulted in a rise in containers handled by MetroPort Auckland, and as a result the port company has increased train traffic from five to six return services most days.

'There is significant route capacity on rail to eventually grow to up to twelve return trains per day,” says Mark.

'Last year, the volume increase on MetroPort trains was an impressive 25 per cent, and now northbound and southbound loads are perfectly balanced, with the highest train load utilisations that I have seen in my decade at the port.”