The Kaiapoi port has a checkered and interesting history. The river was well used by Maori before European settlers arrived, using it for food, catching eel, native trout and whitebait . On the riverbanks waterfowl was plentiful. The first written encounter of Europeans was in 1831 when the crew of the barque Vittoria went overland from Rapaki to Kaiapohia to trade with Maori for flax and fresh potatoes. After one or two exploratory trips up the river with the Flirt, George Day of Sumner began a regular monthly service between Heathcote and Kaiapoi in 1852. Two wool stores were opened the following year, necessitating the building of the first wharf in 1854.
The Canterbury Steam Navigation Company looked forward to a regular service when J E Thacker’s Alma made its first voyage to Kaiapoi on 14 December 1855. However, Alma was lost on the Sumner bar one month later. Because of accidents, an insurance scheme was established by which ports and merchants had to pay a premium. Payments were shared by Kaiapoi and Motunau. This system was honoured by the Government and without payment steamers would not call .
The 45 ton Steamer Planet made her maiden voyage to Kaiapoi on 9 March 1858 and was engaged in the wool trade, taking wool from Kaiapoi to Lyttelton for overseas shipment. Another caller was the 26 ton Schooner Uira, which was the first vessel to do a round sailing from Lyttelton to Kaiapoi and back in the daylight hours with a full cargo both ways. The Uira also ran cargo services from Kaiapoi to Wellington and could complete the round trip in six days. Unfortunately the Uira capsized off the Akaroa heads on 22 March 1863 and was not seen again.
With Kaiapoi developing on both sides of the river, a ferry became necessary and was established by Baxter in 1853. This soon outlived its usefulness and was replaced by a bridge, built by William White and opened on 31 May 1858. To allow ships to pass upstream, the bridge was designed to swing in the middle. As payment for the bridge White was allowed to collect tolls for seven years.
The first recorded shipwreck casualty was the Iris in August 1866, then in December that year the ketch Thetis was wrecked. The next recorded wreck occurred on 27 May 1870 – the ketch Folly stranded on the Waimakariri bar due to an error of the master Captain W Turner who lost his life, along with his assistant crew member. A few months later on 21 September 1870 the paddle steamer Sturt stranded while trying to cross the Waimakariri River bar with insufficient water depth and became a total loss.
In 1877 a local merchant named John Sims chartered two vessels and commenced a new service to the North Island which proved so successful that he soon chartered two more vessels that also called at the West Coast and the Marlborough Sounds for coal and timber. In the ensuing years John Sims added another four ships to his fleet; three of his ships were subsequently wrecked, the Jessie on the Waimakariri bar on 5 April 1882, the Jannette on 2 October 1886 off Cape Campbell on the Marlborough coast, and the Owake Belle on the Waimakariri bar in January 189. He replaced them with three newly built vessels – the Amelia Sims, the Emma Sims and the Joseph Sims.
When John Sims decided to retire, his interests were bought out by the Kaiapoi Shipping and Trading Company. In 1906 their first vessel was the Wootton, a schooner that had been refitted as a steamer. She was too small to cope with the trade offering and was supplemented by a larger purpose-built steamer, the Kairaki, which arrived in 1909. As well as general cargo, Kairaki also transported live sheep from Marlborough and Banks Peninsular. The Kairaki traded to many New Zealand ports, going as far afield as Auckland and Dunedin when required. The Kairaki foundered with all hands in a storm north of Greymouth on 25 September 1914, dealing a major blow to the port of Kaiapoi. The Wootton continued for another year but had to cease trading to Kaiapoi because of silting on the Waimakariri bar. Wootton made a one-off trip on 19 May 1924 but was unable to visit again as she was required elsewhere.
The 1930s saw a brief resurgence when the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company began a service using the newly built Foxton. Problems with strandings at Kaiapoi, and in particular the Port of Foxton, meant that the service was not particularly successful and the Foxton was sold. Between 1933 and 1936 an auxiliary scow called the Ngahau also used the port of Kaiapoi, transporting general cargo and live sheep for a time before she had to return to the North Island.
With the Port at Lyttelton congested during wharf reconstruction work in the late 1950s, it was decided to have another try at reopening the Port of Kaiapoi. The Collingwood Shipping Company of Nelson took up the challenge, sending the wooden coaster Paroto which arrived on 16 November 1958, followed by the steel hulled Ranginui a day later. In 1959 the Collingwood Shipping Company was taken over by the Inter Island Shipping Company, and the same year saw the Southern Cross Shipping Company vessel Picton come on the scene. Later that year the Inter Island Shipping Company added the Taupata, the largest wooden vessel to ever visit Kaiapoi; she was so big that she was unable to turn around to face downstream on her first visit and a drag-line had to be brought in to cut out a section of riverbank on the southern side to enable her to do so.
In 1961 the Kaiapoi Shipping Company was formed and they purchased the coaster Toa from the Northern Steamship Company. A year later they added the Tuhoe; the same year the Inter Island Shipping Company replaced the Taupata with the Waiotahi.
The introduction of the roll-on roll-off ferry Aramoana on the Picton–Wellington run in 1963 forced the Kaiapoi Shipping Company into liquidation, and its two vessels were laid up and were subsequently used on fishing expeditions. The Inter Island Shipping Company was dealt a double blow in 1966 – on 3 August that year the Paroto went ashore at Point Gibson, North Canterbury, in a heavy fog and became a total loss. Also that year saw a second roll-on roll-off ferry, the Aranui, placed on the Picton–Wellington run that took most of the cargo. The Waiotahi landed the last cargo, a consignment of butter from Takaka in November 1967 and the Port ceased trading; most of the little ships were sold off, most of which were later wrecked or scuttled. The Tuhoe was the last survivor, until it ran aground on the Waimakariri bar in September 2015.
See Kaiapoi Ships for the history of these ships.