Port warns staff on fears of cargo cuts

Photo / Brett Phibbs

Ports of Auckland is warning staff it is likely to lose business as Maersk Line replaces vessels and adds new stops in New Zealand.

Maersk's trade and marketing manager, Dave Gulik, said changes to the shipping company's service schedule would give companies better access to the major hub ports of Southeast Asia.

Maersk Line's NZ1 service would see four Dabou-class vessels replaced with nine 2900-class vessels, which would increase cargo capacity.

"Over the past few months, the continuing high global demand for many New Zealand exports has meant space has been tight," Gulik said. "We are reasonably confident this level of demand will continue, and we are stepping up our service to meet it more effectively."

However, Ports of Auckland said in a message to its staff that it seemed likely the port would lose container volumes as a result of the changes by its largest customer. A spokeswoman for the company said: "Logically we would lose some container volumes because of the addition of the new export calls going out of Tauranga.

"However at this stage we are unable to quantify what the changes mean for us in terms of volume and we'll be working through the implications with Maersk over the coming weeks."

The changes would take effect on August 1. A spokesman for Maersk said the changes were not at Auckland's expense. "It's in no way taking cargo from Auckland to Tauranga. It's going to be two calls rather than one and slightly increased capacity for Auckland as well."

Port of Tauranga last week said it had three new weekly container services by Pacific International Lines, Mediterranean Shipping Company and Maersk Line. The weekly Maersk Line service would replace a smaller Pacific Island service that now called at the port fortnightly.

Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said the changes would add 130 vessel calls a year.

"It is really hard to estimate how much new cargo it will bring rather than a shuffling of cargo from existing carriers," Cairns said. "We're probably allowing for all three services about another 20,000 containers at this stage until we know how it pans out."

A Credit Suisse note on Port of Tauranga said the potential trade gains and financial upside from the three new services was quite uncertain.

The Maersk service should attract export volumes from Auckland, while the Pacific International Lines and Mediterranean Shipping Company services could compete with existing lines calling at the port, the note said.

Credit Suisse said its conservative estimate suggested a minimum of 20,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) should be gained in the 2012 financial year "with volumes progressively building thereafter".

Credit Suisse said its best estimate was that Port of Tauranga's net profit after tax should be boosted by at least $2 million a year, with the bottom line impact determined not just by volume but also the mix of trade.

Port of Tauranga posted operating income for the year ended June 30, 2010, of $148.1 million, with net profit of $38 million and an underlying profit after tax which removed one-off and non-operational items of $49.4 million.

NZX-listed Port of Tauranga last week said in responding to media speculation that Ports of Auckland was looking at merging with the company that it had had no recent approach from Ports of Auckland or its shareholder on a possible merger.