PORT NEWS
WorldCargo
news
Auckland in guerrilla
ing unmasked, POAL announced that it
had committed to being NZL Group’s
“major customer at its planned Sulphur
Point container terminal,” and had advised
raid on Tauranga
Port of Tauranga accordingly. Managing
director Jens Madsen said POAL was
looking forward to the re-establishment
of NZL’s Sulphur Point terminal and to
A new skirmish has broken out in the bat- termined, but in any event, NZL’s serv- being able to “add a Tauranga option to
tle between New Zealand’s largest ports, ices would not be greater in scope than our existing product range.”
with Ports of Auckland Ltd (POAL) re- when they operated as a marshalling and This latest outbreak of hostilities fol-
vealed as the backer of a bid by stevedore stevedoring contractor back in 2003. lows Tauranga’s blunt rejection last year
NZL Group to claim part of Tauranga’s “We are surprised at NZL’s actions of Auckland’s suggested buy-out of Sul-
Sulphur Point container terminal. when we understood negotiations in phur Point (see WorldCargo News August
In late December, NZL, which was good faith for a new services contract 2008 p6) and the breakdown of extended
founded 55 years ago but took its current were well advanced. Moreover, we find it merger negotiations between the two port
form through a management/investment irksome to discover that NZL’s Christ- companies in 2006-07.
buy-out of P&O’s waterfront businesses in mas Eve press release was prepared by
2006, announced that it was seeking to take Ports of Auckland.” POAL is backing NZL’s bid to claim part of
advantage of the expiry of a five-year non- Within hours of its involvement be- Tauranga’s Sulphur Point container terminal
compete clause that accompanied the 2003
transfer of P&O Ports’ Sulphur Point ac-
tivities to the Port of Tauranga.
NZL believes it once again has rights
to a substantial part of the facility and
wants to offer what it describes as New
Zealand’s first “private container termi-
nal.” NZL, which is now involved in a
broad range of logistics activities, says it
would have Port of Tauranga operate its
SET FOR
cranes and charge NZL for the lifts for its
terminal business.
NZL director Ken Harris would not
reveal the size of its proposed investment,
TOMORROW
nor whether it had any customers on side,
but believed there was “enough support
for us to take this step.” While Sulphur
Point has been operated as one terminal
since 2003, “we think it is actually better
to have two terminals,” he said. “Port of
Tauranga has always been fantastic about
encouraging competition and we are very
hopeful this can work for both parties,”
Harris told local media.
For its part, Port of Tauranga made it
clear the proposal was unwelcome. “We
understand NZL think they are going to
establish a container terminal,” chief ex-
ecutive Mark Cairns said. He indicated that
Tauranga was taking advice on the legality
of NZL’s claimed rights but would observe
commercial-in-confidence aspects of con-
tract negotiations already underway.
However, Tauranga’s mood soured con-
siderably when it discovered that a media
release issued on NZL’s behalf on Decem-
ber 24 had been prepared by POAL.
“We received a notice from NZL
Group on December 24, 2008, advising
that they wish to re-establish operations
at Sulphur Point,” Cairns said. “This no-
tice heralded an unexpected withdrawal
by NZL from negotiations to renew a
service contract agreement with the Port
of Tauranga, which they had been oper-
ating under for the past five years.
“We consider talk of a private con-
tainer terminal somewhat misleading,”
Cairns said. “NZL’s contractual rights to
re-establish operations are yet to be de-
NMPT to add
five berths
Despite slowing throughput, India’s New
Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) is going
ahead with plans to build five new berths.
“The new berths are being added
under the public-private participation
(PPP) model at an estimated cost of
Rs10B (US$210M) over the next three
years,” said NMPT chairman P
Tamilvanan.
“The port is committed to create ad-
ditional infrastructure for the smooth han-
dling of all types of cargo as per the plans
Konecranes sets the benchmark for improving the design of Our tradition of eco-friendly and economic thinking is behind such
laid down for it in the National Mari-
straddle carriers. By applying our unique knowledge, innovative advanced innovations as our fuel-saving power management,
time Development Programme,” he said. technology and our responsive service attitude, we deliver the the grease-free suspension and yoke beam, and the 2,000-hour
Tamilvanan denied that the economic Highest Lifecycle Value and positively impact the productivity of maintenance interval.
slowdown had had an impact on the port’s
the whole value chain of your container terminal. Konecranes’ straddle-carrier Service and spare-part management
operations and claimed that NMPT
Konecranes entered the market at the beginning of 2008, guarantee that the equipment will be highly reliable and effi cient.
needed to provide the necessary infra-
and has already delivered over 50 straddle carriers. With Konecranes you are set for tomorrow’s demands.
structure to cope with an increase in the
number of vessels expected to call at the
port in the future.
While two of five berths are being
constructed by NMPT as common user
facilities, three are being built by port us-
ers for their captive cargo. For the first
two berths, including one for containers,
the NMPT will spend Rs2.42B
(US$51M), with Rs7.32B (US$155M)
www.konecranes.com
coming from the private sector.
January 2009 7
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40