City's port plots course towards record earnings

Port of Tauranga has started the financial year strongly after experiencing an unexpected surge in its container business.
Over the past few months, six container vessels making unscheduled calls on the North Asia service have had to bypass Auckland and head for Tauranga.
Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said Auckland couldn't guarantee servicing them.
"We have rail links (between Auckland and Tauranga) in place and we can handle them."
Mr Cairns told shareholders at the annual meeting in Baycourt Theatre yesterday that container movements were up 25 per cent for the first three months of the present financial year.
Overall trade and net profit were both up 10 per cent, and Port of Tauranga was heading for record earnings of more than $50 million.
Mr Cairns said "provided there are no significant market changes, we expect to achieve full year earnings in the current range of analyst forecasts which are between $51-$53 million".
He said China was dominating exports from the port, but the markets in Japan, Korea and India were firming.
Foresty revenue was also strong and the sector should remain confident for the rest of the calendar year.
For the year ending June 30, 2010, Port of Tauranga recorded a net profit of $49.40 million, an increase of 9.3 per cent on the previous year. Total trade was 13.75 million tonnes and revenue was $148 million, up $4.4 million.
In the last financial year, container volumes were down 6.5 per cent as a result of service rationalisation by some of the big shipping lines.
Mr Cairns said Port of Tauranga remained the obvious choice to lead the investment required to accommodate the larger container ships that will visit New Zealand.
He backed the New Zealand Shippers' Council report that recommended Tauranga become the first port in the North Island to handle 7000 TEU (20-foot equivalent containers) vessels - and it should be ready within five years.
"We've already seen consolidation in port calls. Most recently, the main North Asia container service decided to stop direct calls at New Plymouth, Wellington and Nelson," Mr Cairns said.
Instead, Pacifica Shipping is providing a scheduled coastal shipping service through Tauranga and Auckland.
The shareholders were told an appeal against dredging the Tauranga Harbour will be heard in the Environment Court in April.
Independent commissioners have recommended to the Minister of Conservation dredging resource consents should be granted.
Stage one of the dredging programme, costing $20-$25 million, would begin immediately should the consents be granted.
Port of Tauranga chairman John Parker said fortunately "dredging is less expensive for us than for other ports who aspire to accommodate larger vessels".
"We have in place much of the required infrastructure and don't have the constraints of poor port access or limited land area," he said.
The port company plans to deepen the shipping channel in Pilot Bay to 14.5m draught at high water (13m at low water).
The shipping channel will be widened by up to 100m.
The stage one dredging will accommodate ships carrying up to 5500 containers - the average size at present is 3500 containers.
Mr Cairns said the port company will also extend the wharf 170m towards the northern end at Sulphur Point.