Log trade helps prop up port result

Port Taranaki’s revenue and profit were both down during the latter half of last year when compared to the same period in 2017.

The company’s 2018-19 half yearly result from July 1 to December 31 2018 showed revenue down 2.5 per cent – $23.7m compared to $24.3m.

A 14 per cent increase in operating expenditure to $17.3m resulted in a drop of net profit after tax of 35 per cent to $4m, the company reported.

A $5.46m interim dividend was approved to sole shareholder, the Taranaki Regional Council.

Total trade volume was down

10 per cent to 2.6m tonnes due to outages and maintenance shutdowns in the oil and gas sector, and reduced demand for supplementary animal feed.

Bulk liquid trade was also down 16 per cent, to 1.7m tonnes, and dry bulk down 9 per cent to

381,000 tonnes.

Less oil and gas production and lower demand for animal feed resulted in ship visits down

15 per cent on the first half of the year.

Port Taranaki chief executive Guy Roper said the company had made significant investments and changes to the business during the past six months to grow trade, adapt to changes in the shipping industry, meet customers’ needs, and make the company sustainable in the long term.

‘‘The Pohokura gas pipeline outage and a maintenance shutdown at Methanex resulted in reduced production, while our dry bulk trade was down, but this must be viewed in context of the extraordinary trading conditions for the first half of last year,’’ Roper said.

‘‘During that period the hot and dry on-farm conditions resulted in a 53 per cent increase in dry bulk trade as farmers looked to support stock with supplementary feed.’’

Farm conditions meant demand for high levels of stock feed the previous year was not repeated, Roper said.

Operating expenditure included removal of the Blyde Wharf coolstore for more log storage, re-purposing of Craig Norgate Store for on-site animal feed storage, and removal of other buildings for development.

On a positive note the log business continued to show another period of sustained growth with log volumes up 82,000 JAS (Japanese Agricultural Standard), to 425,000 JAS – a 24 per cent increase.

Log revenue was up 18 per cent and log ship visits up 53 per cent. Roper said the log trade was expected to grow and greater storage space was needed to meet demand.