Northland's port at Marsden Pt celebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend on a high note with a big jump in net surplus (from $4.7 million to $7.6 million in the 2011-12 financial year), but with a recurring identity crisis.
The correct name of the port is Northport but it isoften called Northland Port or Marsden Port - whoever decided to call the main route to the port and refinery "Port Marsden Highway" has a lot to answer for.
No one in Northland will be surprised to learn that the increase in net surplus this year was mainly due to a 25 per cent increase in log exports, given the number of log trucks on the roads. Log exports totalled 1.958m tonnes and the overall tonnage through the port was 2.728m tonnes, three times the amount handled in the port's first year of operation.
Northport's trade generated 70,000 truck movements in the 2011-2012 year, many of them log trucks but others carrying fertiliser, coal, kiwifruit and wood products.
Northport CEO Jon Moore, formerly deputy harbourmaster at the Port of Fremantle in Western Australia, says the port has huge potential but has to be "enabler rather than driver" .
"There is so much potential for growth here, especially as Auckland becomes more congested, but we can't make people come here. It has to stack up economically for them first. What we can do is provide the facilities and services to make sure everything works well and efficiently so we are ready to do business."
Call it what you will, Northport is celebrating over the next two days. There is a lunch/tour event for local body representatives and clients of the port tomorrow, and a public open day on Saturday, with free bus tours from 10am to 3pm. Groups are asked to book but anyone else can just arrive at the Northport administration building. The public is encouraged to make the most of the opportunity as the port is usually out of bounds.
For a magnificent bird's eye view when the entrance gates close again at 3pm on Saturday, do the half-hour walk to the summit of Mt Aubrey on the other side of the harbour.
