International container shipping line Maersk is to abandon its service to Port Taranaki, the North Island’s main west coast port, following a steady decline in cargo volumes.
Maersk’s New Zealand managing director, Julian Bevis, confirmed the decision, which he said reflected a trend towards lower cargo volumes through the NewPlymouth port, particularly since Fonterra cut throughput from its Whareora plant to the port by 65 per cent in August 2009.
That cut was recorded at the time as cutting about 22,000 containers a year from the port’s 65,000 containers handled in 2008/09.
“We follow the cargo and the amount available there for us has reduced so we have rejigged our trans-Tasman service and are now covering Lyttelton and not going to New Plymouth,” Bevis told BusinessDesk.
The decision was not a reflection on the efforts of Port Taranaki, which Bevis said had been “a model of cooperation and helpfulness”, but rather was “indicative of the concentration that’s tending to happen.
The port spent $20 million in 2007 on dredging to allow it to serve larger container vessels.
The port is expecting growth in coal exports, once Bathurst Resources Ltd. starts shipping coal from its Buller Coal Project from Westport to Taranaki for export.
The Buller project is expected to begin production late this year.
