New plans were introduced for a 90-metre mooring extension to be constructed off Auckland's Queens Wharf in order to handle cruise ships that are currently too large for the port city.
The mooring, featuring a public gangway for part of the length, would allow vessels up to 42 metres longer than the cruise wharves of Auckland can currently handle.
A proposed 75-metre extension was put on hold about 2 years ago, after newly-elected mayor Phil Goff intervened, questioning the need for walkway linking the mooring dolphin to the wharf.
The new plan for which development agency Panuku is seeking a resource consent would build a pair of mooring structures 48 metres and 82 metres out from the wharf, with walkway to the first mooring available to the public when cruise liners are not berthed. A smaller gangway would provide port workers access to the 2nd mooring structure.
Auckland lost a past stopover by Cunard's Queen Mary 2 because of lack of a wharf. Ovation of the Seas had to moor in the harbour during the past couple of summers.
The mooring, in case it is approved, could be operational by 2020 summer, with consent sought to cover 35 years.