Tough year for New Zealand port revenue

In its half-year to December 2005, Ports of Auckland reported a 1% increase in net profit after tax to NZ$21.7m, which may be less over its soon-to-be-announced full financial year.

The port company’s revenue for the half-year grew 9.5% to NZ$87.1m,total container volumes rose 8% to 352,788 teu, while breakbulk cargo volumes remained steady at 2.4m tonnes. The recently-announced full-year result of major local competitor, the Port of Tauranga, has indicated a 7.8% decline in net profit to NZ$31m.

Although taking “one-off adjustments” into consideration, operating profit is understood to have comparatively dipped 1.2%. Meanwhile, the major South Island port of LPC has announced a 15% drop in net profit to NZ$10.1m for the full financial year. However, the dip also reflects a NZ$1.8m asset revaluation. LPC’s operating profit actually rose 5% to NZ$28.4m and revenue climbed 19.2% to NZ$79.3m, partly reflecting a 5.6% increase in container volumes and 16.2% higher coal volume.