Ports of Auckland has posted its annual results showing a slight rise in revenue to $248.1 million.
Net profit after tax was $53.9 million compared to $76.8m in the previous period. This was impacted by reduced space due to automation work, the loss of a service and a decline in car volumes.
Capital expenditure increased to $104.8m compared to $96.5m in the previous period. This was to increase capacity and productivity and improve safety.
No final dividend has been declared. An interim dividend of $18.6m was paid compared with $51.1m in the previous year.
Ports of Auckland anticipates paying a dividend of 20% of after-tax profits, reduced from 80%, in order to fund the investment programme for the financial years ending June 30, 2020 and 2021.
Container volumes were down 3.5% to 939,680 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) compared to 973,722 TEU in the previous year.
Car and light commercial vehicle volumes were by down 14% to 255,252 units, compared with 297,678 units last year.
As a result, bulk and breakbulk volumes, including cars and light commercial vehicles, were down 3.3% to 6.5 million tonnes compared to 6.8 million tonnes for the previous year. Non-car bulk and breakbulk volumes rose 7.4% to 3.7 million tonnes.
Port chief executive Tony Gibson says it “has been a challenging year, but also a productive one”.
“It has been a year of incredible lows, with the death of our colleague when the machine he was driving tipped over.
“This was a tragic event and it has deeply affected everyone at the port. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
“It is also a year in which we’ve made significant progress in transforming our business and preparing for the future. We have completed most of the infrastructure work for automation and we are in the final stages of testing before going live next year.
“Construction of our new car handling building is going well, we gained consent to dispose of dredged material at sea and we will soon seek consent to deepen our channel for larger container ships.
“We are making good progress on our rail-linked network of freight hubs, passing a significant milestone with the opening of the first customer facility at our Waikato Freight Hub for Open Country Dairy, in April. We have also completed construction of a new bridge and road access to the site.
“Once automation is live and the peak of investment has passed, we will again be able to deliver a higher return and dividend level.
“Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our people, we continued to deliver good operational performance despite all the work taking place on the port. Our container crane rate fell, but not by much, and our multi-cargo team actually managed to speed up the removal of cars from the wharf. This is particularly notable given our dwell times were already world class,” Gibson says.
“Automation brings significant productivity and sustainability benefits, but it also impacts some of the traditional roles in our industry. We believe that a business like ours which is adopting new technologies has a responsibility to help staff and their families adapt. We have initiated a Future of Work programme where our staff can learn and manage these new opportunities.
“We continue to value and empower our people by focusing on maintaining a positive safety culture, embracing diversity, and investing in training and development. Our new lash platforms emphasise our commitment to safety, as they physically separate pedestrian stevedores from straddles thereby eliminating one of our critical risks. We are the first port in New Zealand to introduce this innovation, and one of only a few in the world.”
“Overall, the company is in good shape and good heart. The projects underway are a significant investment in our future and they are going well. We look forward to the year ahead, as automation comes on stream and we begin to see the results of the hard work of the last few years,” Gibson says.
