Each pile will take about a day to install as it is driven deep into the seabed during the $15 million extension of the wharf to accommodate the new generation of larger ships.
Some of those vessels are likely to be among the more than 110 cruise ships expected to bring about 250,000 passengers to Dunedin in the 2018-19 season.
The company is about to start communicating with port residents, letting them know what to expect.
Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders said residents would be affected by the work.
"It will be noisy, no doubt about that."
However, the company doing the work would be governed by rules dictating when it was able to make what noise.
"There are strict rules about when they can do it and when they can’t."
Port Otago is extending the wharf to the end of Boiler Point. A flier due to go out to residents says:
"Pile-driving activity is going to make noise; if you’re local you’ll hear it."
The pile-driving would occur from 7am to 7pm weekdays. No piling work would be done on weekends or statutory holidays.
The flier said residents need not be worried about vibration.
"Our geotech engineers assure us that you’ll hardly notice it."
The work would add 135m to the wharf to allow the port to accommodate more cruise ships. The company also planned to build a public fishing jetty.
HEB Construction had been contracted to design and build the wharf, and about 60 workers would be on the site.Mr Winders said the contractor would use two hammers on the piles.
"It will be a noise that happens regularly."
But he said that during the day, when there was also noise from cars and trucks, the sound of hammering would be dissipated.
"That’s why we don’t do it outside of normal working hours. If you did it at 10 o’clock at night, on a clear night, everyone would hear it."
Mr Winders will be making a presentation to the community next week and the fliers will go out as well.
He likened the noise to trains that ran through the port. They were a regular occurrence that people became used to.
"You’re quite programmed to listen to that, and your subconscious deals with that."
People did, however, notice a container banging at an unusual time.
"I think in the initial phases we’ll all have to come to grips with the noise that’s going to be generated, and we’ll mitigate it as best we can."
There was a decibel level over which the contractors could not go, and that was lower early and late in the day.
Work timetable
October: Construction begins.
Mid-October: Pile-driving starts.
Christmas break: December 23-January 7.
April 2018: First concrete deck pour.
July 2018: Piling complete.
August 2018: Fishing jetty construction.
November 2018: Work ends.
