Befuddled thinking surrounds Port's future

As 100 per cent owner of the Ports of Auckland the Auckland Council's views on its expansion are hopelessly conflicted and befuddled, the Employers and Manufacturers Association says.

"The Council has already placed severe restrictions on the growth of its own Port asset by making any expansion of it a non-complying activity," said Gilbert Peterson, a spokesperson for the EMA.

"At the same time, the Council expects the port to make a 12 per cent return on the equity it has invested.

"In addition, for its own Auckland Plan to work, the city must grow exports by six per cent a year and for economic activity overall to grow five per cent with the port a key to achieving this.

"The number of cruise ships calling into Auckland is also projected to increase by 30 per cent over the next five years and by 60 per cent within 15 years.

"Yet the Port, the largest in New Zealand and on which the city's growth will significantly depend, is the only one in the country whose expansion is restrained by the whim of council vote.

"Those opposing its responsible expansion appear to want Auckland's prosperity without doing anything.

"Within 15 years the existing container capacity will be full.

"If the Council won't allow the port's commercial expansion it should sell it.

"Even if today's vote is successful for the port, it will still have to wait nearly two years before it can begin to apply for a consent to expand, a process that will likely take at least a further two years.

"Auckland's growth needs a highly competitive port delivering a good return on investment to achieve higher exports and able to cater for more cruise ships."

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