Lyttelton Port ahead in global efficiency rankings - but worker injuries are on the rise

Wednesday, 1 October 2025

Lyttelton Port has moved up the global port performance rankings, but worker injuries have increased.

Lyttelton Port is operating more efficiently, moving up in the global rankings, but the number of staff getting injured has increased.

The company’s recently-released 2025 annual report shows the average ship turnaround time decreased by 33.6%, from 52.7 hours in 2023 to 35 hours in 2024.

This led to the port moving up the World Bank’s Global Container Port Performance Index, which ranks 403 global container ports for efficiency based on ship turnaround.

In 2023, Lyttelton was ranked 385 and now sits at 273, better than Auckland at 286, but worse than Tauranga, which leaped from 343 to 194 in the current rankings.

LPC chief executive Graeme Sumner said Lyttelton’s shift was one of the largest year-on-year improvements globally.

He said it was driven by better planning, decision-making, co-operation with customers and operational resilience.

Auckland also went up in the rankings, after sitting at 353 in 2023.

Ship turnaround times at Lyttelton Port have dropped 33.6% from 52.7 hours in 2023 to 35 hours in 2024.

But, at the same time, the number of workplace injuries that required medical treatment, beyond first aid, doubled. These injuries went from 1.81 per 200,000 hours worked in the 2023/24 financial year to 3.69 in the 2024/25 year.

The number of injuries serious enough to cause an employee to miss work has tripled from 1 per 200,000 hours worked in 2023/24 to 3.35.

Port of Tauranga has an injury rate of 3.2 per 200,000 hours worked. Auckland Port said it did not report this figure any longer.

Sumner said he was disappointed to see an increase in lost-time injuries.

The increase was the result of a combination of factors, he said, including processes and design around the physical activities it carries out and some of the ways people approach those activities.

Lyttelton Port Company chief executive Graeme Sumner says the company had made strong progress in improving safety systems.

Despite the increase, Sumner said the company had made strong progress in improving its safety systems and physical infrastructure, after making more than 500 changes via a critical risk programme.

Improving health and safety was at the heart of LPC’s restructuring plan at its container terminal, he said.

Sumner said a key focus of the change was to provide a leadership structure in the terminal that drove better health and safety performance through putting in place managers and leaders who will directly drive health and safety for their teams.

However, Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) Lyttelton branch president Gerard Loader said the planned restructure was the reason why injury numbers were up.

He said cargo handlers were struggling to keep their minds on the job because of the new direction of management and the planned restructure.

Workers were worried the restructure was going to put them more at risk and lead to deaths on the job.

The port was planning on eliminating 24 full-time foreman jobs at the Lyttelton container terminal and at least 20 relieving foremen covered by the collective agreement, replacing them with 21 new roles on individual contracts.

MUNZ and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) fought the plans via the Employment Court, but in August the court ruled the restructure could proceed.

“The workers are going to be hung out to dry,” Loader said.

However, Sumner said the change would enhance workers’ health and safety and provide clear and structured leadership.

He was confident new initiatives would result in measurable improvements.

Early last month, Lyttelton Port announced it had posted a record $25.2 million profit. Revenue rose 6.8% to a record $207m, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) lifted 21% to $63.4m.