Port stoush ‘affecting livelihoods’
Mayor stating intention to replace board creates uncertainty, says chairwoman
Auckland port board chair Jan Dawson says new Mayor Wayne Brown’s declaration of looking to replace the board creates uncertainty for thousands of Aucklanders and businesses reliant on the port for livelihoods and imports.
She said it was “disappointing” the mayor revealed during a Herald Premium Q&A about looking to replace the board because he’d lost confidence in it, before meeting the leadership of the country’s main imports port.
“The mayor’s comments create uncertainty for the 3000 Aucklanders, whose livelihoods depend on the port, and also for the thousands of businesses in Auckland and surrounding areas that rely on imports and an efficient supply chain,” Dawson said.
“We repeat our invitation to the mayor to visit the port to discuss the operations, economics, and its importance to Aucklanders.”
The mayor’s office has been approached for comment.
Dawson said Ports of Auckland was New Zealand’s key import port which provided the quickest and most economic and carbon efficient entry point for goods required by Aucklanders.
Ongoing tensions between the port company and the mayor escalated with his comments on Tuesday in the Herald Premium subscriber Q&A event in which Brown answered
readers’ questions. A major plank of Brown’s election campaign last month was the need for a better financial return for the city from the council-owned port, and getting rid of its lucrative vehicle import operation to free-up waterfront land for Aucklanders to use.
Dawson, in a prepared statement to the Herald responding to Brown’s latest salvo, said moving the cars to another port, either Northport or Tauranga, would double the emissions of importing vehicles.
“The port business is a valuable $2 billion asset owned by all Aucklanders and closing the port would see this wealth transferred to other regions.”
She cited a Maritime Union statement on Tuesday that the “Ports of Auckland is too important to the country to be drawn into a local power struggle”.
Dawson said there was “no doubt” the port in recent years had not performed from a safety, operational and commercial perspective.
“This is changing with improved safety, operational and commercial performance. Throughput has improved by 30 per cent since April. The board are confident the port will meet and even exceed its statement of corporate intent profit targets for FY23-FY25 and return dividends of $30m per annum for FY23 and $50m per annum in the medium term.
“At the Mayor’s request, the port has also commenced work on the examination of the use of the area between the Ferry Building and Bledisloe Wharf and will report on this to the Mayor on 31 March 2023.
“There has been no reluctance in the past by the port to return the land to the community. Over the past 25 years we have returned 117 hectares of land to council. Any transfer needs to be economical and practical.
“The board and I look forward to welcoming the mayor and councillors on site to witness the scale of our operation, our improved safety measures and understand how critical this asset is to Aucklanders,” Dawson said.