Ports of Auckland in a storm

The recent report by Construction Health and Safety New Zealand is damning in its disclosures of safety shortcomings and deficiencies at Ports of Auckland, with little apparent control exercised by management.

In addition to accidents, including fatalities, there have been significant failures to meet targets, both productionwise and financial.

This has resulted in a substantial loss of business to Port of Tauranga and a financial loss to the owner, Auckland City, due to the port not paying a dividend. New cranes and straddle carriers have not been brought into service efficiently.

Although the Auckland Council is the nominal owner, it has little power to direct the port which operates under its own board.

If the port were a standalone company with shareholders and an elected board its performance or lack thereof, would not have been tolerated.

It is past time for this structure to be remodelled along commercial lines so that this valuable and critical operation can safely achieve both its production and financial targets.

Lay lines

Peter Clapshaw, Remuera.

Phil Goff continues passing the buck with his support for the fiction that the Ports of Auckland Limited board is responsible for the company’s current litany of woes.

He will certainly know that it is he, in his capacity effectively as chairman of the body with ultimate control of POAL, who has the ultimate power to direct, monitor and if necessary act to ensure that the company is properly governed and managed.

To suggest otherwise is disingenuous. The buck stops squarely on your desk, Mr Mayor. It is time now for you to exercise your powers in the interests of all Auckland City ratepayers

Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.

Unnecessary height

There is much talk about various replacements for our iconic Auckland Harbour Bridge, all at enormous cost.

The existing bridge was designed to allow the passage of large ships headed for a proposed port at Te Atatu¯. Hence the 240m centre span with 43m clearance under.

Since the Te Atatu¯ port was never built, it appears that for 60 years virtually the only ship to require that huge span is a raw sugar freighter every six weeks to the Chelsea sugar works.

Chelsea might choose to relocate at any time, or unilaterally amend logistics requirements, particularly as the city plans for the removal of Auckland’s port facilities.

Our old bridge needs replacement but, if Chelsea’s supply were not an issue, we would no longer need to think big.

The bridge needs to carry a motorway, with pedestrians, cycleway and services. No large ships beneath, only pleasure boats, barges and dredges to access the upper harbour.

I believe a series of typical motorway bridges similar to others, un-named and un-noticed on the roading network would be a simple, quick, flexible, and above all cost-effective solution.

Malcolm Brown, Glendowie.

Land of the lost

Greg Cave ( NZ Herald, March 30) nailed it.

When I began work as a survey cadet in 1962, we were doing subdivisions across the Auckland metropolitan area for group builders, firms such as Universal Homes, Beazley Homes, Reid-Built Homes, Neil Homes etc. They built single dwelling homes on subdivisions and sold them as house and land packages.

They were modest in size, about the same as a state house, they didn’t leak and probably weren’t that well insulated. But we just put on another layer of clothes if it got cold.

There was usually no carpet or curtains when sold, but I think there was lino in the services rooms.

The sections were large, 600sq m minimum, which councils insisted on.

That scenario came apart when the doctrinaire policies of the Auckland Regional Council restricted the supply of zoned, serviced land at a time of high demand, with its Metropolitan Urban Limits policy.

The result was the land got so expensive that building a modest, affordable house like that would undercapitalise the property. That was the start of the upward cycle.

The simple answer for affordable housing in the future is to look to the past.

David Stewart, St Heliers.

Overwhelming majority

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, the co-Leader of the Ma¯ori Party, argues ( NZ Herald, March 24) in favour of Ma¯ori wards in local government.

She attacked the “generously funded campaigns by Hobson’s Pledge” for “releasing pamphlets effectively demanding the status quo remain”.

Hobson’s Pledge released pamphlets arguing that for any constitutional change as important as allocating votes on a racial basis the public should be consulted, and not simply ignored as local councils in many parts of the country have been doing.

Again and again, when consulted, the overwhelming majority of voters do not want a race-based franchise.

And why would they? Ma¯ori New Zealanders have already shown themselves capable of being elected to local councils in proportion to the number of Ma¯ori in the general population, and to Parliament well in excess of the proportion of Ma¯ori in the general population.

Don Brash, Eden Terrace.

Passport extensions

As far as most people were concerned, the prospect of travelling overseas last year was a big no, thanks to Covid-19.

Now that an open travel bubble is within sight, there is the reminder of many passports due for renewal.

One wonders whether the government will show compassion and extend the expiry date by one year that was lost through fear of travel or sensibility to delay travel for that year.

Coleen Campbell, Ngongotaha¯.

Cone sequences

I see some correspondents are complaining about the presence of road cones all around our city. Perhaps we might all take an alternative view.

I drive along Puhinui Rd every day on my daily commute and admire the care which the keepers of their little orange charges take to keep them safe.

They are all lined up perfectly, indeed almost militarily, such is the order with which they are proudly serried in rank after rank after rank.

Some days they even guide us along different paths, possibly because their carers don’t wish to see them become bored, just standing there in one place all the time, so move them to somewhere else to take in a different view while we all then try to find yet another way to negotiate our way forward, however irritating that may be.

Remember, they won’t be there in our way creating all sorts of confusion, holdups and aggravation forever, even if some days it feels they may be.

In the meantime let’s let them enjoy their years in the sun and freedom from dirty old council sheds while they can, by showing a little conedness.

Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.

Decline of rugby

Sir John Kirwan urges rugby’s top players, and by implication, rugby followers like me, to trust NZ Rugby to do the best for the game. Never.

The union will sell its soul for a few million dollars. There is a serious decline in our national game.

Club rugby, the very soul of the game, is almost dead. Where there were four and five clubs competing in sub-unions when I played in the 1950s, today they struggle to field one.

The game has deteriorated into a slugfest, no longer fun to watch. Scrum laws are a mess. Frequent penalty stoppages, resulting from endless tinkering with the laws, add to the now boring spectacle.

Rugby was always a rough game but now it is brutal. Only the superb fitness of the players prevents more serious injury.

A fatality on the field is only a matter of time.

I played provincial and sub-union rugby, represented two universities, and coached senior rugby after retiring.

It pains me to see the current state of the game. Trust the rugby union? Never.