The challenge

• Lyttelton Port is the major import-export seaport for New Zealand’s South Island, and it sat in the heart of the Canterbury earthquakes: a magnitude 7.1 in September 2010, then two magnitude 6.3 events in 2011.
• The port had to keep the country’s rebuild supply line open and repair efficiently through repeated aftershocks.

What we did

• As part of its asset-management programme, LPC commissioned a CSI monitoring system before the 2010 quake.
• Three strong-motion accelerographs across the port, each on a different soil type.
• Continuous ground-motion measurement, from micro-tremors to the strongest felt earthquakes.
• A comprehensive seismic model of the port, run with the measured records, to estimate the likelihood of damage and pinpoint its location.

The result

• Repairs focused where they were needed, and operations sustained through multiple aftershocks.
• Structure performance assessed directly from real measured data, for faster and more reliable decisions.
• Damage assessment and insurance claims supported by measured records.
• New structures designed to actual ground motion.
• Critical services never disrupted more than 96 hours; despite severe damage, one of LPC’s best business years ever in 2011.

“We have achieved our best year ever, while being tested beyond anything we could have imagined.”— Peter Davie, Chief Executive, Lyttelton Port of Christchurch