Marine businessman loves the sea and a challenge

By ROBIN BAILEY

In at the deep end. This could well be the motto of Auckland maritime businessman Keith Ingram. Every step of his nautical career has involved personal challenge and the ability to handle a degree of financial risk.

Now a nautical surveyor, marine assessor and accident investigator, Ingram, aged 52, also edits and publishes Professional Skipper, the magazine of the maritime transport industry. With his wife Vivienne he launched the magazine in 1996 to provide a voice for the inshore and coastal shipping industry.

Like many other waterfront personalities, Ingram's introduction to serious seamanship came via the Royal New Zealand Navy.

"As a stroppy 17-year-old motorbike lout in Gisborne, I realised I wouldn't see much of the world stuck on that part of the coast," recalls Ingram.

"The Navy welcomed me along with 226 other recruits and proceeded to knock us into shape. In those days it wasn't a matter of tossing in the towel if you couldn't hack the life.

"We had to toughen up and get on with the job. It was a standard of training I believe has been lost in the politically correct Navy of today."

The young sailor's leadership skills were soon recognised, and promotion through the ranks came quickly.

Ingram spent time in frigates but preferred working small ships where everyone was a key team member and seamanship skills could be honed.

He particularly enjoyed service aboard the Navy's first tanker, HMNZS Endeavour, handling tasks ranging from cyclone relief in the Pacific Islands to supply and support for Scott Base in the Antarctic.

It was on Endeavour that Ingram's small-boat handling skills were recognised after he skippered the ship's pinnace to rescue 10 civilians from Raoul Island in heavy weather.

Naval service over, he was soon back at sea fishing. He established Neptune Seafoods at Mangere Bridge and ran the company successfully before moving into the restricted limits shipping industry.

Then, in 1985, the Ingrams bought the launch Tuhua and set up Neptune Fishing Charters at a time when the charter boat sector was going through hard times.

"Apart from diving, the charter boat industry was dead," Ingram says. "However, I knew the Hauraki Gulf well and was able to bring home happy fishers who quickly spread the word, and the business was soon booming.

"In fact, it wasn't long before others were following our lead, and there are now 86 full-time charter boats operating on the Hauraki Gulf."

Neptune Charters became a member of the NZ Maritime Transport Association in 1985 and Ingram quickly convinced a couple of colleagues it was time to form an Auckland branch.

He went on to be its national vice-president for four years and president for six, actively promoting the interests of the smaller owner-operator members.

He also worked with the officials drafting the new Maritime Transport Act 1994, and the Fisheries Act 1996.

He also had some input regarding the introduction of Safe Ship Management, though he has reservations about the need for an SSM-based system and is concerned about the interpretation of the rules by some SSM companies and delays created by the Maritime Safety Authority in developing some of the rules.

Vivienne Ingram required another big leap of faith in 1999 when her husband needed another mortgage on the house, this time to buy a fast ferry to run a service between Auckland and Half Moon Bay.

The Fullers group had contracted with the Auckland Regional Council for a trial service and wanted an owner-operator.

In just seven months the service had hit the passenger numbers projected for three years out.

The bus company Stagecoach then bought the Fullers group and subsequently bought out the Ingram interest.

Looking ahead, Keith Ingram says the America's Cup proved the charter boat industry was no place for get-rich-quick operators, but is convinced those there for the long haul will survive.

"I believe the big challenge now facing both central and local government is logging," he says.

"We need a fleet of tugs and barges to shift the millions of tonnes of logs about to come on stream from the north, from the East Coast, Wairarapa and the South Island. Fast, modern water transport is the way to handle this harvest.

"The alternative is throwing heaps of public money on building new roads and upgrading the old ones."