NEW Zealand’s CentrePort Wellington has released its financial results for the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), reporting positive growth.
CentrePort has reported the highest gross revenue in the company’s history, against what it called a backdrop of economic instability and significant headwinds affecting the ports industry.
The North Island port achieved NZ$106.2 million in gross revenue, NZ$7.6 million higher than FY23, while underlying net profit after tax was reported at NZ$14.7 million, an increase of NZ$2.7 million from FY23.
CentrePort saw an FY24 throughput of 98,855 TEU’s, up 3% from FY23, though total bulk fuel tonnage was down 2% to 944,486. The port saw 185,704 cruise passengers across 102 ships.
The port company’s comprehensive income for the year was NZ$36.4 million, which CentrePort says includes positive fair value changes only partially offset by recent tax legislation adjustments.
These adjustments saw the New Zealand Government remove tax deductions on industrial and commercial buildings with estimated lives of 50 years or more.
CentrePort’s board chair, Lachie Johnstone, says as a key supporter of the economy CentrePort continues to work hard for the region and country, delivering stable results that are “sorely needed” in these challenging times.
Johnstone says the port’s focus on an energy transition and biodiversity has seen CentrePort reach a 37% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions, well ahead of its target of 30% by 2030, achieved despite growing ship and container handling movements.
“Reaching this milestone early means we revised our expectations and we’re now aiming to reach an ambitious goal of 50% reduction by 2030,” Mr Johnstone said.
“This would be a significant achievement and position us well to be carbon zero by 2040.”
Chief Executive, Anthony Delaney, says a critical component of CentrePort’s success is its ongoing investment in people.
“We’re especially proud of our health and safety performance this year as our injury severity and occurrence rates are down 30-70% on the previous year,” Mr Delaney said.
It wasn’t all positive however, as economic headwinds affected some parts of CentrePorts business, including logs, fuel and car imports.
While cruise ship visits and passenger numbers increased in FY24, the port says there is a known industry-wide drop for the coming year.
“Our approach will be to continue to focus on what we can control – reducing waste, improving efficiency and being proactive in looking for opportunities and solutions to our customers’ problems” Mr Delaney said.
Mr Johnstone says CentrePort continues to be a crucial part of the overall network that ensures New Zealand remains connected, domestically and globally.
“This connectivity includes travel across the Cook Strait,” he said.
“While the cancellation of KiwiRail’s iReX project has had a knock-on effect to the port’s understanding of what would occur, we remain committed to working with Government, KiwiRail, Strait NZ, Ministerial advisors, and other key stakeholders to support travel between the North and South Island.”
