Leading questions: Goodman Property Trust John Dakin on the supply chain

Goodman's John Dakin. Photo / Supplied

Forget trying to make any predictions about 2021 after this topsy-turvy last year, says John Dakin who heads New Zealand's largest listed industrial landlord, Goodman Property Trust. Customer concerns about getting goods to this country do concern him, though.

How would you describe 2020 for your business?

Start, stop, start, stop, start – Christmas! The year has gone incredibly quickly. I would describe it as a mixture of exciting, challenging, a bit scary at times, but overall a very rewarding year.

How do you think the Government has handled the Covid-19 crisis?

I really think they have done an excellent job. It's a tough act balancing the economy and health, but I think most of us realise the wellbeing of New Zealanders must come first.

What are two key things the Government should do for economic recovery?

A controlled opening of the border will clearly be essential and continuing to target support at the most vulnerable and affected sectors. Let's be ambitious and have a clear 30-50 year plan with agreed infrastructure projects, particularly for our growth cities. If we get that right, use smart city technology to manage the negatives of urban life and have a real focus on sustainable development we can have urban centres in NZ that rival our amazing natural landscape.

How is your business planning to tackle 2021?

Not a lot of change in many ways. We have deliberately positioned our business over the past five years to be solely focused on the logistics and warehousing sector in Auckland and carry a low level of debt. We expect the trends around e-commerce and consumers demanding more convenience to lead to an increase in demand for well located logistics facilities over the next few years.

What will be the major challenges and/or opportunities for your industry?

Our customers are telling us that getting goods into New Zealand remains a major pinch point and that is concerning when businesses can't satisfy local demand. The investment market remains incredibly competitive with yields at historic lows. I expect that to continue while there is a strong weight of capital looking at the warehouse and logistics sector and interest rates remain close to zero. On the opportunity side, those owners who own key sites, close to consumers will benefit from the trends around e-commerce and retail businesses re-organising their supply chains in response to consumer demand. We have also seen strong growth internationally in the data centre space in recent years and this is already unfolding in New Zealand.

What was the most interesting non-Covid story of 2020?

The Black Lives Matter movement was eye-opening for me. If I am honest, I didn't really get it to start with, until my 21-year-old daughter explained it to me. It made me pause and realise that we all carry bias in our lives and issues of privilege need to be understood if we are to have a more equitable and tolerant society.

Where are you holidaying this summer?

So many great spots to go but we will be chilling out in the Coromandel, reading the New Zealand Herald and attempting Sudoku – you need to tell the person that sets the puzzles that the easy one should be called hard and the hard one "impossible"!

What are your predictions for 2021?

Forget it - tried for 2020 and didn't see that year coming. But if I was to make one prediction it would be that my super rugby team, the mighty Chiefs will not only win a game this year but will win the final.