Lyttelton Port to pay employees $500 bonus as it announces $16m profit

Friday, 1 October 2021

Lyttelton Port chief executive Roger Gray says the $500 bonus is to recognise staff for their contribution in the port’s success last year. It has just posted a $16 million profit.

Lyttelton Port is paying all its employees a $500 bonus after confirming a $16 million profit last year, which was $7.5m ahead of the goal it set in the aftermath of March’s 2020 lockdown.

The port, owned by Christchurch City Council through an investment company, released its full annual report for the 2020/21 financial year on Friday morning.

“While we’ve faced considerable challenges in an operating environment that has remained uncertain, [the port] and its people have performed well,” board chairwoman Margaret Devlin said.

Chief executive Roger Gray, who joined the company in late 2019, said the year’s result led management and the board to agree to the $500 bonus for any staff member who began work before June 30 this year.

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Lyttelton’s new $67 million cruise ship berth opened in 2020. While Covid-19 put a huge dampener on the cruise industry, in the past seven months 79 cruise ships have docked at the port town. (Video first published Nov 2020).

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Gray said the bonus was “in recognition of the contribution everyone has made to the success of [the port] this year”.

Lyttelton Port’s exports for this year shrank by 0.9 per cent compared to the year prior, while imports grew by 3.9 per cent. (File photo)

The port also said its carbon emissions dropped by 19.5 per cent last year.

Gray said he was focused on continuing that trend with increased investment in a more efficient fleet of cranes, electrification of light vehicles, and widespread adoption of biofuel.

The annual report showed the number of containers that came through the port last year was down by 1.7 per cent compared to the year prior. Exports shrank by 0.9 per cent, while imports grew by 3.9 per cent.

The biggest change was to logs going through the port, which increased by nearly 50 per cent, as well as car trade, which grew by 17 per cent compared to the year prior. Fuel trade also increased by three per cent.

Devlin said essential frontline staff at the port had been a big part in continuing safe management of New Zealand border.

The port said this week that 95 per cent of just over 300 frontline staff were fully vaccinated, while the remaining five per cent had been redeployed to other parts of the business.

“It has been a source of pride for us as a board and management team to see the enormous effort [port] staff and our unions have undertaken to play their part in keeping the virus out of our community,” Devlin said.

The port’s $16m profit for the 2020/21 financial year is higher than its $10m operating profit from the year prior.

The final result for the 2019/20 financial year was actually a $152m loss, but this was mostly due to a change in the way the port values its assets.

The port has now paid a $10m dividend to the council’s investment company.

It has also provided its first update on the implementation of 32 recommendations from a review into workplace culture, which began in May 2020 after allegations of bullying and discrimination.

Twelve initiatives were due to be completed by June 30, but only eight have been fully implemented. The remaining four have been started and are in progress.

These involve introducing diversity training, starting a mental health awareness programme for managers, making a joint statement with the union about a commitment to eliminate bullying, and a review into the culture of the CityDepot container depot.