Port Taranaki has reported a net profit of $8.3 million in the year to June 30 with booming log volumes.
This is up 14.4% on the previous year’s profit of $7.22m.
The port will pay a $9m dividend to the Taranaki Regional Council, the port’s sole shareholder. This is up $1m from the previous year’s dividend.
Total trade increased slightly, with volumes up 1.2% from 5.08m tonnes to 5.14m tonnes, and ship visits increased by 10%.
Leading the way was another record year in the port’s log business which grew 42% from 486,000 JAS to 692,000 JAS.
Port Taranaki chief executive Guy Roper says the results put the port in a “strong position”.
“There is continued demand from China and there are large numbers of harvest-ready trees coming on-stream.
With this growth forecast to continue, we are working to utilise more of our footprint to store logs and looking to expand our reach through the use of rail from the Whanganui area,” Roper says.
Dry bulk volumes rose from 570,000 tonnes to 792,000 tonnes, an increase of almost 39%. Overall import volumes rose from 270,000 tonnes to 960,000 tonnes – the highest level in the past five years.
While logs and dry bulk were up, bulk liquids volumes fell slightly from 3.98m tonnes to 3.63m tonnes. This was expected, with the industry undertaking planned shutdowns and turnarounds.
Port Taranaki also completed the refurbishment of the former Chevron terminal for lessee BP.
The terminal is now fully operational and enables larger parcels of diesel and petrol to be shipped in and distributed throughout the region.
The port also began work to expand its log business by repurposing on-site land to store logs and working alongside KiwiRail to develop a logs-on-rail service from the Whanganui region.
