Port in good health

Lyttelton Port of Christchurch trading volumes and revenues for the first six months of fiscal 2012-13 are ahead of record levels in the prior corresponding period, says the port company’s boss.

LPC chief executive Peter Davie said the port was so far busier than the record 2011-12 year, both in terms of revenues and volumes.

‘‘We are trading slightly ahead of that this year. I haven’t got the final December figures yet, but we will be ahead of last year’s first six months.’’

LPC’s revenue for the six months to December 31, 2011, was $51.8 million.

‘‘We’ve seen good volumes through the container side, but also in places like logs, cars, fertiliser, cement – all showing good volumes,’’ Davie said of the six months to December 2012.

‘‘We haven’t seen a big dropoff in any of our trades.’’

LPC has been seeking contractors for $40 million to $50m worth of wharf and seawall repairs on a section of its main Cashin Quay ship docking area.

However, before the main work could begin potentially later in the year, further geotechnical work had to be done on the ground the port and wharf piles were located on, Davie said.

The company was eight months through a two-year drilling programme around the port.

Under the plan, the existing section of Cashin Quay wharf will be demolished and replaced. The repair plan is for a 260-metre stretch of wharf and seawall damaged by the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

Davie said LPC was continuing to work with its insurers, Vero, NZI and QBE, on the repair and claim process.

‘‘We have a replacement policy, and then if we do need to do what’s called betterment, that fundamentally comes at our cost.’’

The total cost of damage at the port has been put in the order of $500m, with insurers having paid around $35.7m towards repairs.

Reinstatement work is expected to take five to seven years.