A company which owns half of the Marsden Point-based Northport raised its first-half profit 21% on increased freight volumes going through the port.
Log volumes were up 13% at Northport in a period when cheap shipping rates and resurgent Chinese demand supported forestry exports.
Marsden Maritime which also owns a marina, commercial facilities and land, saw its net profit rise to $5 million, in the six months ended Dec. 31, from $4.1 million, a year earlier, reports BusinessDesk.
The company’s property holdings nearly doubled its trading surplus to $540,000 on a 40% gain in revenue to $950,000, while its marina and commercial unit more than doubled earnings to $194,000 on a 31% increase in revenue to $926,000.
According to BusinessDesk, Marsden Maritime revenue rose 20% to $6.8 million, largely through a bigger return from its share of Northport, where cargo throughput rose 12% to 1.85 million tonnes.
“The positive result was attributable to a combination of strong cargo growth at associate entity Northport Ltd and improved earnings from our other commercial operations,” says chief executive Graham Wallace.
“Although cargo volumes at Northport for the remainder of the current financial year are projected to be at a slightly lower level than that for the comparable period last year, we expect annualised throughput will still exceed that recorded in the 2016 financial year,” says Wallace.
Marsden and Port of Tauranga each own 50% of Northport, and Marsden also owns 100% of Marsden Cove and Marina.
The company itself is about 54% owned by Northland Regional Council and 19.9% by Ports of Auckland.
