Volumes up but profit down at Lyttelton Port

A day after it got the nod from the Shippers' Council as a logical port of call for bigger container ports Lyttelton Port of Christchurch (LPC) has reported a 1.1 percent fall in underlying earnings on a 5.3 percent rise in container volumes, the New Zealand Press Association reported.

The port, which referred to itself as "the South Island port of choice", reported net profit after tax fell 10.4 percent to US$6.31 million in the year to June 30. But 60 percent of this was achieved in the second half, which was up 21 percent on a year ago.

Earnings before interest and tax was $20.49 milllion compared to $220.7 million last year.

The port said it had increased costs of $421,199 in securing term finance and $350,999 for dredging infill caused by unusually large and long easterly swells.

Revenue rose 3.4 percent to $61.3 million.

The New Zealand Shippers' Council said Tauranga and Lyttelton were the logical ports to handle container ships capable of carrying 7,000 TEU containers.

Currently, the biggest ships calling regularly in New Zealand are 4,100 TEU vessels. LPC said it handled the 4,500 TEU OOCL New Zealand on its maiden voyage in April, the largest container vessel to ever call at LPC.

LPC continued to work through the feasibility of a merger with Port Otago but had no developments to announce.

In the year to June 30 the port experienced a 5.3 percent increase on last year's container volume to 273,789 TEUs.

Full export container volumes grew 15.7 percent in the period and refrigerated container export volumes increased by 6.6 percent. Empty export container volumes declined 15.7 percent in the period.

The port has previously said it is handling more of Fonterra's exports after shipping service rationalisations.

In terms of total tonnage LPC remained the largest South Island port by a substantial margin and the third largest in New Zealand.

An export log boom delivered a 58.7 percent increase in log volumes to the port.

The port said the vehicle trade also began to recover, and its import volumes rose by 21.1 percent. Fertiliser imports were also a highlight, with a 21.7 percent increase in volumes in the year.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)