Lyttelton Port Company profit up, but dividend to city council down

Tuesday, 1 October 2019

Record container movements have helped boost Lyttelton Port's profit, but expenses including its new cruise terminal mean a smaller dividend for ratepayers.

The port company, wholly owned by the Christchurch City Council, made a tax-paid profit of $42.1 million in the 2018-19 financial year, up from $12.2m the previous year, its annual report says.

Outgoing Lyttelton Port chief executive Peter Davie.

While the port's operating revenue rose from $122m to $129m, the biggest cause of the increase was $37.6m in legal settlement payouts.

Details of the multiple settlements remain confidential, but the payouts follow the port suing its insurance broker, Aon, over claims its earthquake cover was inadequate.

Containers handled by Lyttelton Port Company include these at Lyttelton and a growing number at Rolleston.

The container terminal at Lyttelton Port.

* Lyttelton Port Company boss Peter Davie to retire

* Lyttelton Port warns cruise berth will dent dividend

* Strikes and costs erode Lyttelton Port profits, dividend delayed**

Roger Gray will be the new chief executive of Lyttelton Port Company.

The port handled export cargo worth $5.6 billion, a jump of 16 per cent, in the past financial year. Imports were worth $4.75b, up 1.6 per cent.

Lyttelton Port has opened Cashin Quay wharf 2 as part of its post-earthquake rebuilding

Shipping container movements set a record, with the equivalent of 437,000 20-foot containers going through the port. Ten per cent of these went through the company's Midland Port facility inland at Rolleston.

With the 2011 earthquake rebuild behind it, Lyttelton Port Company is now focused on enhancing its infrastructure to efficiently manage Canterbury freight volumes, forecast to more than double in the coming three decades. (Video first published in

The port handled over half a million logs, a 20 per cent increase on the previous year, and 50,000 cars, a 17 per cent drop.

The $7m dividend to council for the financial year is down from $8.6m the previous year. The port company has forecast dividends of $8.2m and $9m for the next two years.

In the 2017-18 financial year, the company's profit took a hit from a major industrial dispute.

Outgoing port company chief executive Peter Davie said cargo volumes had doubled in the last decade, and were set to double again over the next two decades.

Lyttelton Port spent a total of $146m on capital projects during the year.

Major work included construction of the $56m cruise terminal due to open in November 2020, deepening of the harbour's shipping channel, building a new container terminal at Te Awaparahi Bay, and upgrading the port's oil terminal.

More than 70 cruise ships are booked for the rebuilt terminal's first summer season. No large cruise ships have visited Lyttelton since its facilities were earthquake damaged.

Work on waterfront areas will continue with private developer the Peebles Group taking on the Woolstore hospitality and retail development at the port's Te Ara marina, which opened last October.

In the past financial year the port company spent almost $60m on salaries. It has just over 600 staff, of which 248 were paid more than $100,000, and 13 paid more than $200,000. This includes Davie's annual salary and performance bonuses totalling almost $1m.

Davie will retire at the end of the year. His replacement will be Roger Gray, now a senior executive at Air New Zealand.