Positive Tauranga forecast

The forecast follows the port returning a comparable 2.4% profit dip in the previous financial year, when it experienced a million-tonne decline in log exports and incurred NZ$2.4m in depreciation related to its NZ$350m capital expansion programme.

This expansion has already begun to pay dividends, with the port having recently received its first 9,500 teu vessel in the form of the Aotea Maersk – far eclipsing the previously-largest 4,500 teu callers.

Describing the first quarter of the current financial year as a “positive start”, Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns noted year-on-year increases included overall trade (5%), logs (16%), dairy (12%), container throughput (3%) and net after-tax profit (6%).

“We expect to handle more than 1m teu in the full year ending June 2017 and expect to see log exports recover to 2015 levels,” he says.

“No matter the fluctuations in individual cargoes, we believe our diverse product mix, income sources and locations will protect us somewhat. We also believe our long-term freight agreements with major exporters give us some certainty to our planning and infrastructure investment.”