Marshall Day Acoustics was awarded the Hugh Vivian Taylor Award, presented by the Australian Association of Acoustical Consultants, for its contribution to the management of low-frequency port noise in New Zealand and Australia.
The submission referenced three specific and related examples; control of exhaust noise on the Rio-class container ships, establishment of a New Zealand ship noise register, and a study of low-frequency noise for the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority around the Port Botany precinct.
Giant silencers to cut unwelcome noise from Rio-class ships berthed at Port Otago were fitted on to one of the auxiliary engines after complaints from harbour residents.
The low-frequency rumble originated from exhaust gas pulsation of the auxiliary engines running the ships’ generators, which powered up to 1250 refrigerated containers on board.
Port Otago employed Marshall Day Acoustics to measure the noise and propose a solution. After 18 months of negotiations, shipping giant Maersk invested about $1 million per vessel to retrofit the special type of silencer to the problematic generator.
The improvement for the local community was immediate and the benefit was enjoyed by other port communities visited by the Rio ships throughout New Zealand and Australia.
Marshall Day Acoustics subsequently initiated the set-up and maintenance of a New Zealand ship noise register in partnership with Ports of Auckland, designed as a collective database to aid in the identification of noise profiles from individual ships in most of New Zealand’s major ports.
Yesterday, Marshall Day Acoustics consultant Craig Fitzgerald said the company had worked with various ports, including Port Otago, for probably 25 to 30 years, and the low-frequency rumble was "not a few thing".
But a solution had never quite managed to get "over the line" until the leadership shown by Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders.
"Without his leadership, taking that commercial risk and putting his head above the parapet, none of the flow-on stuff would have happened for Port Chalmers or the other communities now benefiting in New Zealand and now probably Australia," Mr Fitzgerald said.
While Marshall Day Acoustics provided the guidance and technical solution, Mr Winders heard the strong community reaction and that leadership was required.
People often did not realise that ports had very little legal ability to control the visiting ships and it took bravery from Mr Winders and Port Otago "to really push this home". Shipping lines genuinely did not realise they had a problem, Mr Fitzgerald said.
In continents like Europe and Asia, there were dedicated ports that were a long way from communities, whereas at the likes of Port Otago, the community was the port.
Mr Fitzgerald did not expect the firm would win the award, saying the work he did with ports was "unsexy" — " it probably needs to be extra good to get that kind of attention".
It was not necessarily a technical accolade, but it was a full system approach which solved a "tricky problem" and benefited the community, he said.
The award honoured one of the pioneers of acoustics in Australia by recognising submissions based on their innovation, promotion of consulting in acoustics and their conclusions advancing acoustics.
Mr Winders said it was great to see Marshall Day Acoustics recognised by their profession for silencing the Rios amd eliminating a negative situation for the community.
The Port Noise Liaison Committee also deserved mention; he cited its support across the whole timeline — during the difficult period when the Rios were at "full noise" through to the collaborative effort to fix the problem.
