Port of Auckland is New Zealand's main import gateway and its growth plans will set it up for another 40 years. Photo / Michael Craig
Port of Auckland is New Zealand's main import gateway and its growth plans will set it up for another 40 years. Photo / Michael Craig
The Port of Auckland will invest $120 million to $150m over the next three to four years in infrastructure growth as it rides the wave of a sharp turnaround in financial performance.
The investment, which would set the country’s main title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/nz-imports/">imports port up for another 40 years, would be funded by debt and continuing close attention to fiscal responsibility, chief executive Roger Gray said.
The Auckland Council-owned port was expecting to receive a return of $40m-$45m from the sale of its 19.9% stake in Marsden Maritime Holdings, if a new consortium deal to bring ownership of Northland’s Northport under one umbrella goes ahead.
The proceeds would be tipped into the investment programme.
The port on Wednesday announced it had doubled net profit after tax to $42m in the first half of the 2025 financial year, a 98% lift on that of the corresponding period in 2024.
The company shaved more than $15m off its net debt levels in the first half, and had now paid down more than $100m of debt in the last three years, positioning it well to invest in future growth, Gray said.
The port will pay the council an interim dividend of $25m, up $5m or 25% on the prior period.
Upgraded FY25 earnings guidance is $75m-80m net profit after tax, compared to $55.2m in FY24. The full-year dividend was expected to be at least $45m (FY24 $40m).
Port of Auckland CEO Roger Gray. Photo / Dean Purcell
Gray said with earnings already $15m ahead of budget for the year, the port had the confidence to upgrade its guidance.
He said the financial performance had been achieved by an 8% growth in its container terminal business, increased user charges and “running the business really efficiently”, achieving improved productivity and on-time performance.
The port handled 457,000 TEUs (twenty-foot-equivalent boxes) in the half year, with December traffic of 81,000 containers the highest achieved since 2019, pre-Covid.
Gray was upfront that some of the financial gains had been made on the back of user price rises.
“For too long, exporters and importers have not paid a fair price – we are resetting that.”
Prices had gone up in January and in May he would make a further announcement on prices to the market.
Gray, brought in in 2022 to turn around the port’s woeful productivity, financial and safety performance, which was exacerbated by the pandemic, said container shipping volumes naturally generated in Auckland but “gifted” to Port of Tauranga had been reclaimed. Strong growth in bulk shipping volumes, including coal, had also contributed to the half-year performance.
However vehicle roll-on, roll-off shipping was “very soft” with car volumes 30% down on the previous year, while construction materials shipping remained patchy.
Cruise ship volumes would also be down in the year ahead, from 120 ship visits this season to 80, but the port’s planned infrastructure upgrade should make it more attractive to cruise lines.
The port continued to work with its shareholder Auckland Council on implementing its 2024-2034 long-term plan, lodging a consent application to complete Bledisloe North and Fergusson North wharves.
The work would make the port “big-ship-capable” and provide long-term fit-for-purpose port infrastructure.
It would also create more waterfront access for the public, reduce vessel congestion in the ferry basin and meet the increasing freight requirements of the city, Gray said.
Andrea Fox joined theHerald as a senior business journalist in 2018 and specialises in writing about the $26 billion dairy industry, agribusiness, exporting and the logistics sector and supply chains.
