Shane Te Pou

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Better results are expected from Ports of Auckland this year “in a range of areas”, says Auckland mayor Phil Goff’s office. The Herald had asked Goff what he and the council expected from the port board under new, acting chairman Bill Osborne, who took up the job this week after Liz Coutts retired.

The Auckland Council-owned ports’ container terminal has been choked since September, creating lengthy delays in berthing ships and unloading imports, pressure on the North Island freight supply chain and empty warehouses and store shelves.

Port management has attributed the congestion to Covid-19 impacts on global shipping schedules and a stevedore labour shortage, but frustrated sector players blame the ports’ failure to implement an automation project started in 2016, and to effectively plan for, and manage, container volumes.

These increased markedly when airline freight capability plunged with the pandemic. The congestion at NZ’s main import gateway is expected to continue well into the year.

Asked this week if Goff had confidence in port chief executive Tony Gibson, senior management and the port board of directors, the mayor’s office said: “The mayor and council have concerns about the port’s performance in a number of areas”.

Of the expectations of acting chair Osborne, it said: “Council expects the POAL board to exercise effective governance over the management of the port to achieve better results in a range of areas.”

Meanwhile, Goff and his deputy, Bill Cashmore, have written to the port asking it to commission an independent review of the automation project when it is fully implemented.

After delays last year, attributed to Covid-19, the port said the project would be fully implemented by the end of March. The latest advice is that, because of freight taking operational priority, the final terminal work should begin in April but this was subject to several factors.

The letter, which says the council expects to have input on the terms of the review, was written to Coutts on January 12. Goff’s office said it had yet to receive a response.

The letter said: “I am aware there are some delays to the completion of the automation project. Since the end of September 2020, it has become clear that there is significant congestion at the port which is affecting how quickly customers receive their goods and the [automotion] delay . . . is playing a role in that”.

Goff’s office told the Herald that “notwithstanding the impact of Covid-19” the council was concerned about delays in completing automation, “clearly conveyed to the board on a number of occasions”.

The letter to the port chair also asked for clarification of timeframes for work on Bledisloe Wharf and exploring alternatives to the dumping of dredged materials, and wanted the port to provide “a more ambitious timeline” for the implementation of a Māori responsiveness plan and strengthening relationships with mana whenua. The letter was copied to the port chief executive.

Asked to comment on the port company reducing its 2020-2021 targets for crane and ship rates in its revised statement of corporate intent, Goff’s office said that once automation fully kicked in the “council expects POAL to improve its performance and set more ambitious targets”.