Hawke's Bay Regional Investment Company CEO Andrew Newman says Napier Port is doing well but is "increasingly exposed to volatility". Photo / File
Hawke's Bay Regional Investment Company has categorically said it is not "mortgaging the port" to run the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (RWSS).
In an interview with Hawke's Bay Today, chief executive Andrew Newman said Ruataniwha was not creating a risk situation for the port.
"The Ruataniwha is not creating a risk situation for the port.
"It is actually ultimately creating a benefit for the port," he said.
"We are not mortgaging the port to run the scheme.
"Let's be very clear about this: since when have we mortgaged the port to run the scheme?"
Mr Newman also denied using it as collateral.
"The point is the council has sold Napier leasehold land and it has sold the cash flows for Napier leasehold land for 50 years and it has the cash in the bank."
He said the port was a very successful business.
"But it is in competition with other ports and that trade and that cargo can move from port to port really fast as can shipping lines.
"So the port faces significant market-based risk in terms of the cargo that comes through the port as well as where the shipping lines call."
Mr Newman said the port and the RWSS were two separate investments.
"The point is that the threshold for meeting the conditions precedent to building a scheme and investing the money are designed to ensure that the cash flows are sufficient to ensure that it is not being run ultimately at a loss."
The chief executive said he wanted to "really emphasis this point" that the port ultimately benefited by having a more productive Hawke's Bay economy.
He said the RWSS would do that.
"The port's risk is that it is an infrastructure asset, it's fixed. The wharves don't go away if the ships don't call or the product doesn't come through," he said.
"[The] port is doing very, very well but it is increasingly exposed to volatility and goods flowing through it and ships calling."
The Findlays have been selling their cherries from a shed near Napier for 16 years.