Auckland port cuts into Tauranga's lead

Ports of Auckland. Herald file picture

As big questions hang over the country's ports, new data shows the port of Auckland closing in on Tauranga in terms of the value of goods exported.

The Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) figures for the year ended June show the value of exports through Auckland rising 14.6 per cent ($830 million) to $6.5 billion, while Tauranga increased 2.8 per cent to $7.3 billion. The gap between the two nearly halved from $1.36 billion to $729 million.

Tauranga stayed far ahead of other ports in the weight of goods exported, but its lead was eaten into.

Volume through Tauranga dropped 3.3 per cent to 6.1 million tonnes, while Auckland picked up 12.3 per cent to 2.2 million tonnes.

Splitting them for volume was Lyttelton which had 16.1 per cent growth to 3.6m tonnes, but in value terms it was fourth at $2.6 billion, up 15.2 per cent. Third for export values was Dunedin which had a 7.4 per cent rise to $3.3 billion.

For the country as a whole the value of export cargo loaded at New Zealand ports rose 5.4 per cent to $32.96 billion, while the weight slipped 0.2 per cent to 21.8m tonnes.

Dairy product exports rose $843m, aluminium and aluminium articles were up $207m, and crude oils up $157m. Meat and edible offal was down $77m and live animals down $56m.

Mechanical wood pulp of softwood was the main contributor to the fall in export weight, down 122,000 tonnes, and worth $47m less. Iron ore exports were down 48,000 tonnes.

Import values nationally were up 5.7 per cent to $37.39 billion, with import volumes falling 5.5 per cent to 18.1m tonnes.

The weight of phosphate and cement imports fell by 760,000 tonnes -- 71.9 per cent of the total -- and were down $62m in value.

Most ports had declines in import volumes, with the exceptions being Tauranga up 8.3 per cent to 3.8m tonnes, enabling it to slip ahead of Auckland into second place, and Whangarei rising 1 per cent to 5.7m tonnes.

Auckland remained far ahead of the rest of the country in the value of imports which was up 3.8 per cent to $15.3b, but Whangarei had the largest increase, up $872m (30.9 per cent) to $3.7b. Tauranga was up 9.4 per cent to $3.9b.

New Plymouth had the largest fall in export weights, down 585,000 tonnes (31 per cent) to 1.3m tonnes

The statistics came out on the same day as Ports of Auckland, which delisted last year and is now wholly owned by Auckland City Council's infrastructure holding company Auckland Regional Holdings, reported its June year net profit fell 8 per cent to $35.5m.

POA said export full containers were consistently growing faster than import fulls which was good for the New Zealand economy.

"Volumes flowing through the port suggest the New Zealand economy is in better heart than is generally being reported," chief executive Geoff Vazey said.

But POA said it was hit by global shipping mergers that affected shipping line services and calling patterns.

The world's biggest container line, Denmark's Maersk, ended up with 40 per cent of the New Zealand market when it took over rival P&O Nedlloyd in December.

Maersk is mulling trimming its ports of call in this country, with one primary calling port in the North Island and one in the South Island.

- NZPA