More than 2000 locals attend Open Day
On Labour Day Monday 2024, we opened the gates to the owners of our port – the people of Otago – to celebrate 150 years in our community.
About 130 of our kaimahi helped during the day, including Marine Pilot Captain Sumanth Surendran, who cheerfully ferried life jackets between the tug rides and check-in desk.
More than 2000 people attended and $15,000 was raised. In the spirit of the Open Day, Port Otago boosted the amount, so a rounded-off $2500 donation was made to each of our seven local organisations: Port Chalmers Maritime Museum, Dunedin Marine SAR Water Rescue, Iona Church, Koputai Trust, Otago Navy Cadets, Royal Albatross Centre and Terra Nova Sea Scouts. We also topped up the contribution to the three larger organisations – Dunedin Marine SAR Water Rescue, Royal Albatross Centre and Port Chalmers Maritime Museum – so each also received an additional $10,000.
Thank you to Maersk for generously allowing us access to the Maersk Monte Lascar for the Open Day. It was a rare opportunity for our community to board a container vessel – and they made the most of it, with every tour sold out.
