Annual result announced

On Tuesday, Ports of Auckland released its financial result for 2009. POAL announced normalised earnings* before taxation of $15.7m for the year ended 30 June 2009.

EBITDA for POAL's container division, the largest part of the business, was up 1.4% on 2007/08. Overall container volumes reached a new high of 843,590 TEU, an increase of 0.3%, with terminal division volumes up 2.1%.

Managing Director Jens Madsen said Ports of Auckland had increased its share of the upper North Island container market from 59% to 61%, and now held 36% of the entire New Zealand container market.

To view our media release click here.
To download Jens Madsen's Presentation click here.
To read Auckland Regional Holding's media release, 'Shareholder capital support finalised for Ports of Auckland' click here.

Queens Wharf Public Access Day

Hundreds of Aucklanders took the opportunity to visit Queens Wharf at a public access day on 13 September 2009.

The gates were opened by Prime Minister John Key, with Auckland Regional Council Chairman Mike Lee and Auckland City Mayor John Banks in attendance.

The day included a magnificent display from the twin tugs Waipapa and Waka Kume (click here to see the TV3 News Clip). The display was accompanied by the Royal NZ Navy pipe band.

Over the next two years Queens Wharf will be redeveloped into a new, world-class cruise terminal. POAL will continue to service cruise ships from the new terminal on Queens Wharf.

Princes Wharf will continue to be used as Auckland’s primary cruise terminal until a new facility is built and thereafter will serve as the backup terminal. The cargo volumes currently handled on Queens Wharf will be transferred to the Bledisloe terminal, Captain Cook and Marsden wharves.

See proposed designs for the redevelopment of Queens Wharf here.

ANL Transtas / MSC Kiwi Service changes

ANL and MSC will implement a new service rotation to their trans-Tasman service.

The Ocean Bright, an ANL vessel, will be calling Bledisloe Wharf on Friday 25 September.

Ocean Bright will replace ANL Yarrunga. MSC will deploy MSC Hobart and MSC Kiwi into a fixed day weekly service which calls Sydney / Melbourne / Nelson / Auckland / Tauranga / Lyttelton / Wellington.

With the change to Friday's arrival window at POAL the service will now be based at Bledisloe.

Awanuia named

The new fuel tanker recently purchased by Seafuels, a joint venture company between Ports of Auckland and Pacific Basin Shipping, was officially named in a ceremony on Tuesday 8 September.

Awanuia will provide a new re-fuelling service for cruise ships and commercial vessels calling at Auckland’s Port, and will call at a purpose built jetty at Marsden Point to reload.

The Awanuia arrived in Auckland on the morning of 20 August 2009, after a nearly 9,000 nautical mile journey from Turkey, under the command of Captain John Skrine.

The ship is named after the shell Awanuia porcellana, a small shell, only around 3 millimetres long, that is found on the east coast of Northland, between Auckland and North Cape.

New appointments at POAL

POAL is pleased to announce that Michelle Smith has been appointed Ports of Auckland Customer Services Manager within the Capacity & Planning team. Allan D’Souza has been appointed Berthage Manager and now reports to Manager Stevedoring, Operations - Jonathan Hulme.

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