Lyttelton Port Company’s Net Profit after Tax for financial year 2022 was $18.9m, an increase of 18 percent on the previous year and seven percent more than the Statement of Intent target.
LPC also exchanged a record-breaking half a million TEUs – the first time in the Port’s history. The total TEU this year was 502,210, a 15 percent increase from last year.
“This significant milestone was only possible thanks to the hard work, dedication and innovation from our teams at Lyttelton Port, CityDepot and MidlandPort, as well as our customers,” says LPC Chief Executive, Kirstie Gardener.
“It’s been a year of great highs, but one tragic low for the Port with the loss of Cargo Handler, Don Grant, on ANZAC Day. Don’s passing was deeply shocking for the LPC whānau and this loss is felt by us all, but most of all by Don’s family.”
While external investigations into this tragedy continue, with LPC’s full cooperation, the Port is focused on supporting staff who have been affected. It’s also committed to ensuring that Don’s memory is maintained by learning from this event and making sure the entire port industry is as safe as possible for all workers.
“As part of this commitment, we’re actively involved in the work the Minister of Transport and Workplace Safety, Hon Michael Wood, has launched to strengthen port industry safety,” says LPC Board Chair, Margaret Devlin. “We’re focused on helping develop new standards for our industry that cover the critical risks workers face every day.”
LPC continues to implement significant health and safety improvements through its Safety Reset, Life-Saving Commitments, and Critical Control Verification Audits that assess the controls in place for critical risks.
It also launched a comprehensive Permit to Work system this year, which increases visibility and control over contractors and others carrying out work around the Port, including allowing LPC to intervene when work practices need to be changed.
The year also brought a major change in leadership at LPC as former Chief Executive, Roger Gray, resigned to move to Ports of Auckland and Kirstie Gardener took the Port’s helm.
Kirstie is the first female Chief Executive of LPC and has been part of the executive team as General Manager People and Safety since February 2019, after first moving to the Port from ANZCO Foods Ltd.
Kirstie says LPC has a clear path forward and the business remains dedicated to its strategy focused on whanaungatanga, infrastructure for the future and sustainable profitability.
“I’m committed to building on LPC’s momentum this year and ensuring that we continue to play our role in delivering positive outcomes for Canterbury and the wider South Island,” says Kirstie. “People are at the core of what we do and I’m proud to lead the LPC whānau and am excited about what we can achieve together in the future.”
As the South Island’s largest international trade gateway that facilitates the movement of billions of dollars’ worth of imports and exports each year, LPC is continuing to invest in infrastructure to support the South Island economy.
The company saw a 37.5% rise in the value of exports through the Port this year to $8.61b – a $2b increase from the previous year. The value of imports into Lyttelton also jumped by 44.5% to just under $6b.
This significant growth highlighted the need for an $85m Eastern Development programme, which will expand the Lyttelton Container Terminal on the Te Awaparahi Bay reclamation and boost capacity from 500,000 to 620,000 TEUs per year.
“We have completed some major upgrades to our Dry Dock facilities this year and we’re also adding a new container yard, four new reefer towers, new truck receival and dispatch lanes, and a new straddle workshop facility,” says Kirstie.
“This important investment is all part of our Leading the Way strategy that we rolled out last year to guide the next five years of our journey. It focusses on making LPC a sustainably profitable, diverse, inclusive and safe port, and ensures we deliver the right infrastructure at the right time.”
This year LPC has also added a new pillar to its strategy, Manākitanga (hospitality) and Kaitiakitanga (guardianship), that reflects the Port’s commitment to positively impacting the local community and protecting the natural environment. LPC is focused on addressing climate change, delivering a net positive effect on biodiversity, and waste minimisation and avoidance.
“We’re working to complete a climate risk assessment and have taken steps towards biodiversity reporting,” says Margaret. “We’re also reviewing our existing Carbon Reduction Plan, and in FY23 the Board will look at adopting science-based targets to update our sustainability strategy.”
This year’s carbon reduction journey has been challenged by increased volumes, but the LPC team has worked hard to reduce carbon intensity per TEU by more than 7%.
“Looking forward, we’re really excited to see cruise ships return to Lyttelton over the next few months, berthing at our new cruise terminal,” says Kirstie. “We have more than 80 bookings for the summer 2022-23 season – a massive increase on the 25 small vessels who visited us in the 2019 to 2020 season.
“We’re focused on taking LPC to the next level and delivering customer excellence, while being a safe, sustainable and profitable Port, which will remain at the core of our strategy into FY23 and beyond.”
