Oceania

The Australian port of Portland has won its challenge against the Victorian government for the amount of land tax that was payable at the time the port was privatised in the mid-1990s.

Major stakeholders in New Zealand’s supply chain appear united in their support for maintaining two major upper North Island ports to handle the country’s international freight needs.

The opposition political coalition in Australia is concerned about monopolies dominating Australia’s ports structure.

Western Victoria has opened a major freight terminal to ease congestion at the state’s ports.

New Zealand ratepayer-owned ports are expected to soon become subject to the Official Information Act following Labour MP Darien Fenton’s Local Government (Council Controlled Organisations) Amendment Bill being drawn from the ballot.

PrimePort Timaru chief executive Jeremy Boys has advised staff there will be 29 redundancies as a consequence of the port having recently lost its container trade.

Maritime Union of New Zealand national president Garry Parsloe says productivity bonuses earned by his Auckland members are a demonstration of their “strong commitment” and hard work.

Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter says the Government needs to develop a national ports strategy so ports, which are majority or wholly-owned by local bodies, stop under-cutting each other.

The environmental pressures facing ports close to residential areas have surfaced in Melbourne, where residents of the suburb of Williamstown have already raised concerns about the proposed development of the Webb Dock…

DP World says it was forced to sell its Adelaide terminal to Flinders Ports due to the exercise of a right in the agreement held by Flinders.

An independent valuation of the Port of Napier has revealed a 47.1% rise over three years to NZ$177.4m (US$134m).

A five-yearly review into the regulation of key state ports is being undertaken by the South Australian Essential Services Commission (ESCOSA).

Port-related infrastructure has received only a moderate boost from the Australian Federal Government’s 2012-13 budget.

Ports of Auckland and the Maritime Union of New Zealand commenced the Employment Relations Authority’s facilitation process in May in a bid to break their nine-month industrial dispute.

Speculation Northport is about to fulfill a blossoming role handling spill-over container volumes from Auckland and Tauranga has been calmed by port company business development manager John Lee-Richards.

An Australian port economist says the pressures on ports are being significantly increased by the challenges of catering for larger ships.

Assets and leases held by Westgate at Victoria Dock in Melbourne have been bought by Qube Logistics in a deal worth A$47m (US$49.3m).

CentrePort Wellington chief executive Blair O’Keeffe says a Productivity Commission report on the local ports sector fails to acknowledge the dramatic surge in freight handled successfully over the past two decades.

Northland Regional Council chairperson Craig Brown believes Northport is ideally-placed to win trade from nearby Ports of Auckland and Port of Tauranga.