New Zealand’s Port of Auckland has started work to extend its Fergusson North wharf so it can handle container ships of up to 10,000 TEU, the port said on Thursday (5 November).
What is being built
- A 45-metre wharf extension on reinforced concrete piles will close the gap between the existing wharf and its mooring dolphin. The works also complete the final phase of a 10-hectare reclamation first consented in 2001.
- Today the berth can already moor a 10,000 TEU ship of about 350 metres by using the dolphin, but the wharf is too short for quay cranes to reach the full length of the ship’s holds.
- Channel deepening is due to start in 2027. The consent covers deepening the Rangitoto channel, whose shallowest sections are 12.5 metres at low tide, to 14 metres, and the Fergusson North berth to 15.2 metres.
- The port expects the reclamation, wharf extension and dredging to be finished in late 2027.
Background
The extension was approved under New Zealand’s Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 in August 2025, together with the Bledisloe North wharf, which has been under construction since September 2025 and is due for completion in March 2027.
In 2025 the port forecast that the largest ships calling at Auckland would grow from about 6,000 TEU to 10,000 TEU over five years. It handled 932,209 TEU in its 2026 financial year.
Ports across the region are preparing for bigger ships: earlier today we reported that Hutchison Ports Sydney is adding cranes for 15,000 TEU ships at Port Botany.
Based on reporting by Baird Maritime, 6 November 2026.
