Woodchips at the Mount circa 1999

Woodchip was a major export item at the turn of the 21st century and the biggest chip pile in the country was located at Mount Maunganui – where Mike Lambert had put a Caterpillar D-11R ‘CHIPDOZER’ to work to mange the pile.

Feeding the chip mountain was a huge undertaking and it required a large fleet of chipliners working 24/7 to amass the tonnages that were exported from the port.