NZ drinks companies count the cost of quake

Drinks producers in New Zealand are still assessing the damage after a huge earthquake hit the city of Christchurch at the weekend.

Although it is remarkable nobody was killed by Saturday’s 7.1 quake, the scale of the damage to stocks and facilities, let alone transport infrastructure, is growing more apparent by the day.

The Sandihurst winery, located approximately seven miles from the epicentre of the quake, is still assessing the extent of the damage, but already it is clear a vast amount of stock has been destroyed (left).

Celia Bosman, director of Sandihurst, told the drinks business: “We are no strangers to quakes in New Zealand, but it is pretty incredible that nobody was really seriously hurt or killed by this one.

“There has been quite a bit of visible damage to tanks and bottled wine, but like the rest of Christchurch the damage may only be the tip of the iceberg and we are still yet to conduct a full assessment of the damage. I don’t think its going to happen overnight.”

Aftershocks continue to hit the region, with a 5.1 magnitude tremor hitting the area last night, cutting power and causing further damage to buildings. In total more than 100 aftershocks have hit the city since Saturday.

The initial quake also caused major problems for one of the country’s biggest breweries.

The Lion Nathan brewery has warned normal service may not resume for weeks after supply lines were cut by the disaster.

While the main brewery, which has stood in the city centre since the 1850s, survived largely undamaged, the nearby warehouse was badly shaken, sending stocks of beer, wine and spirits crashing to the convulsing ground.

A spokesperson for the brewery, which produces Beck’s, Guinness and Kilkenny, said: “Our offsite warehouse has been significantly affected and remains closed.

“We are currently looking for alternative warehousing but we have lost considerable inventory.”

Geological experts have now ominously warned that the Marlborough region is due for a major earthquake.

Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences structural geologist Andy Nicol said the Wairau fault, which runs through Renwick and close to Blenheim, was likely to rupture every 2000 years, but had not done so in that time.

Dr Nicol, who studies the Wairau fault with a colleague at the institute, insisted that while earthquake prediction was not an exact science, Marlborough’s next big quake could come as soon as tomorrow.

Some wineries in the region, such as Pernod Ricard’s Brancott Estate facilities at Riverlands, are built to withstand a major earthquake.

National winery manager Gerry Gregg told how land south of the Riverlands cob cottage was lifted about half a metre from the sea in huge quake in 1848.

Below the winery site lies a metre of windblown dust and dirt, a metre of tidal black sand then a metre of white sand, which was likely to liquify. The wine tanks themselves sit on concrete rafts designed to float in a quake.

A quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale caused extensive tank damage to hundreds of tanks at the company’s Gisborne winery two-and-a-half years ago, and the repairs are still not complete, according to Gregg.

The shaking of the tanks, which were full of liquid, produced a “tidal wave” motion that caused tanks to spread at the base, with the damage described by Gregg as "elephant’s foot".

Fortunately Pernod Ricard’s Montana Branott Estate restaurant on the winery site was designed by Auckland engineers using prefabricated steel. “The foundations would sustain a 10-storey building", said Mr Gregg.

Was your business affected by the New Zealand earthquake? Were you there when it struck? Let us know. Email alan.lodge@thedrinksbusiness.com

Alan Lodge, 08.09.2010