Unloading of the bulk carrier Jaeger, carrying 13,000 tonnes of phosphate rock from Morocco for the company's Ravensbourne fertiliser plant, began at 3pm on Sunday and finished at 3am yesterday, plant manager Tony Gray said yesterday.
Three calls from "apprehensive residents" were received before the trial and four residents telephoned during the trial, one supportive and three expressing concern, he said.
Those residents, who lived in suburbs on both sides of the harbour, were chiefly concerned about noise, he said.
"It is possible we may receive further feedback over the next couple of days, including logs compiled by members of the Ravensbourne community liaison group and the coastal processes working party."
The company last week distributed fliers to about 1700 harbourside residents in Ravensbourne, Maia, Waverley, the Cove, Macandrew Bay and Company Bay alerting them to the trial.
A Christchurch acoustic consultancy company, Marshall Day, monitored sound levels at various locations during both nights, recorded the sound contribution of the ship generators, ship crane operation, the wharf conveyors and the acid plant operations while filtering out noise from vehicles and passing trains.
The trial and monitoring had been successful, he said.
"Calm weather conditions on Sunday night were particularly helpful for noise monitoring."
In its fliers to residents last week, Ravensdown said it was preparing an application to renew its Otago Regional Council shipping consents and wanted to ask for unloading to be extended from 16 hours a day to 24.
However, Mr Gray said yesterday no decision on extending hours would be made until after trial results, community feedback and consultation with the community liaison group and the coastal processes working party had been completed.
