Ports of Auckland Volumes Index Update

Total container volumes* for the 12 months to end-May 2004 were up 2% to 660,628 TEUs (as compared to the 12 months to end-May 2003). Volumes for the month were down 8% on May 2003.

Full import container volumes rose 2% and full export container volumes were down 3% for the 12 months to end-May 2004. For the month of May 2004, full import container volumes were down 1% and full export container volumes were down 6% on May 2003.

Transhipment** volumes were up 8% for the 12 months to end-May 2004 and down 30% for the month of May 2004.

Containers comprise approximately 70% of Ports of Auckland’s throughput and about 85% of business activity.

Another month of high imported vehicle volumes contributed to a 40% rise in breakbulk (non-containerised) volumes for May 2004 (as compared to May 2003). Monthly breakbulk volumes can fluctuate significantly due to the arrival dates of individual ships carrying large loads. Breakbulk volumes were up 4% to 4.7 million for the 12 months to end-May 2004 (as compared to the 12 months to end-May 2004).

* Container volumes are measured in TEUs (20-foot equivalent units – or the size of a standard 20-foot container).

** Transhipment containers are discharged at Auckland and reshipped on another vessel to international or other New Zealand destinations.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>