Editorial: Place locals first in sale of Westhaven

Ports of Auckland's plan for selling the Westhaven Marina is blinkered and benighted. Not because any major dramas will flow from private hands holding the hawser. Privately owned marinas operate perfectly well throughout the country. And not because the sale has a peripheral tie to the Government's aim to place the foreshore and seabed off limits to private ownership. What jars is Ports of Auckland's single-minded pursuit of a foreign buyer for Westhaven.

The company thinks, perhaps, that it will garner the best price from overseas. It might even believe an international operator will bring a superior range of skills. Both reasons, however, are hugely outweighed by Westhaven's special circumstances. And neither reason vindicates the snubbing of yacht-club members and berth-holders that was implicit in the sale announcement. The company seems not even to have talked to them about its plan. If anything, they are a fallback position. Yet Westhaven's special circumstances demand that a trust formed by local boaties receives a first option to purchase. Only if it cannot deliver a realistic bid should an overseas buyer be sought.

Westhaven is what it is today because of public money and berth-holder debentures and licence fees. The marina was developed by the Auckland Harbour Board as a community asset before passing to Ports of Auckland, 80 per cent of which is owned by Infrastructure Auckland on behalf of Aucklanders. Yet the public will derive no direct benefit from the sale. The only potential advantage lies in an increased dividend to Infrastructure Auckland, based on the proceeds promoting a more efficient container shipping operation.

Perhaps Ports of Auckland's offhand attitude reflects sometimes testy relationships with the boating fraternity. There was a crossing of swords a year ago when the Ponsonby and Victoria Cruising Clubs railed against the company's attempt to cash in on the demand for waterfront apartments. The clubs maintained that a commercial development at the western end of the marina was inappropriate for an area originally reclaimed from the sea as a reserve for Aucklanders.

More pragmatic matters also concerned them; pressure on car parking at the marina and potential noise complaints from apartment-dwellers, for example. Nonetheless, they were right to highlight the public stake in Westhaven. The ports company cannot blithely ignore this. This means, therefore, that it must not sell the marina without a caveat guaranteeing public access. Westhaven's history, and its popularity with strollers and fishers, dictates that restricting, or denying, public entry is, quite simply, beyond the pale.

The Government's discussion document on the seabed and foreshore reinforces the need for an access condition on the sale. It reads: "There are ... rights that may on occasion give capacity to control or exclude access over parts of the foreshore or seabed, for example where marinas or other structures have been built". Westhaven's new owners must understand that no such permutation applies to their marina.

Ports of Auckland is selling off assets that are not part of its core container-handling business. Westhaven Marina is a healthy business, and it is contemplating a handsome windfall, perhaps of $60 million. This strategy may be prudent, and its tactic for extracting the best price for Westhaven may make sound commercial sense. In this case, however, business instinct must be tempered by an understanding of what is owed to Auckland, and its people.

Berth-owners and yacht clubs should have been the first to be informed of the company's plan. Now, they must be given an option to purchase before any international tender process begins. Retaining Westhaven in local hands should be plain sailing.

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/marine