Lyttelton Port Company boss Peter Davie to retire

Monday, 29 April 2019

Lyttelton Port Company chief executive Peter Davie will retire at the end of this year and is planning to take to the sea in his yacht.

After 16 years at the helm of the Lyttelton Port Company chief executive Peter Davie has announced he will retire at the end of the year and plans to run away to sea.

The man who oversaw a massive post-earthquake rebuild of the port, and whose $1 million salary package has at times attracted considerable public comment, is looking forward to taking being out on the water with his wife Wendy, instead of looking at it from his office.

'This time next year we hope to take our yacht up to the South Pacific cruising for six months.'

'At the end of that, if we like it we'll probably keep on staying on the yacht, but we'll keep a house in Christchurch.'

Getting the earthquake-damaged port facilities back on track was a major point of satisfaction for LPC boss Peter Davie.

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News that he is quitting comes a little over a year after settlement of a protracted and acrimonious industrial dispute with Rail and Maritime Transport Union members.

Davie was accused of inflaming the situation by taking a long-planned European skiing holiday while the dispute was at its height.

Smaller cruise ships can moor at the Port of Lyttelton, but big cruise vessels will not return until a new $56m cruise berth opens next year.

Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) board chair Margaret Devlin thanked Davie for his extensive contribution to the port, and said his leadership during the earthquakes and the rebuild period were particularly appreciated.

Davie, who joined the company in 2003, said it was the right time to move on.

'It was no one thing. I've had 16 years and I feel I've been really lucky over that period of time to do some really exciting stuff.

'I feel like I've done what I wanted to do here and its time for someone new to come in and take the company forward.'

Steering the company through its post-quake recovery was something Davie found most satisfying.

'We had to keep the port operating while emergency repairs were carried out. I'm proud of the fact that we were closed for no more than three days, meaning that the vital connection of the port kept trading despite the February quake being centred virtually under Lyttelton.'

During his tenure container volumes had tripled to about 440,000 a year.

While the long awaited $56m cruise ship berth was also important for the regional economy, Davie said it would make up less than 5 per cent of the company's business, whereas cargo containers were 'the life blood of Canterbury.'

Davie also oversaw the post-quake rebuild of LPC's company offices, the establishment of inland terminal City Depot, and development of a walk-on floating marina.

With consents for further reclamation and to dredge the harbour deeper if necessary, he said the port was well set up for the next 30 years.

'Most ports in New Zealand don't have the ability to expand, we do, and it's critical for Canterbury that we keep expanding [by reclaiming land] as the cargo keeps growing.'