Week in review

Friday 13th June 2003

The Commerce Commission revised its estimates of the competition detriments of Air New Zealand's proposed alliance with Qantas to between $195 million and $466 million, up from $156 million to $402 million, following an "audit of mathematical calculations."

Dubai-based Emirates Air's stepped-up transtasman service will begin on August 1 but Australia's competition watchdog said the escalation was not significant enough to mitigate competition losses from the proposed Air New Zealand- Qantas alliance.

Ports of Auckland is considering appealing a High Court ruling that BP New Zealand doesn't have to clean up contaminated sites in the Western Reclamation. The port said despite the ruling it considered the clean-up to be BP's responsibility.

Credit information and debt recovery companies D&B and Credit Consultants won a bigger share of Accident Compensation Corporation's work following a tender that saw ACC reduce the number of agencies it uses.

The Ministry of Development asked Greymouth Petroleum to stop production from its Kaimiro-19 well in Taranaki because it had not submitted a proper development plan. The accusation is the same that Greymouth levelled at Indo-Pacific Petroleum at its Goldie discovery.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare won a German health insurance endorsement for its sleep apnea products that will give German health insurance companies cover to use the products.

As China and Hong Kong downgraded their alerts for the Sars virus, Richina Pacific re-opened its Blue Zoo aquarium in Beijing. The company said it could not yet quantify the cost of the shutdown.

Tranz Rail is terminating the lease of its Aratere ferry and taking the vessel back into its ownership with "very small break costs." The move is an apparent reversal of the "virtual railway" strategy under which Tranz Rail sold and leased back assets and outsourced functions.

Tourism Holdings is ploughing $12 million into a refurbishment of its Kelly Tarlton tourism attraction in Auckland. It also bought a 34 metre catamaran for its Milford Sound cruise fleet.

Todd Energy bought a 10% stake in the undeveloped Pohokura gas field offshore Taranaki from Austria's OMV, taking its ownership to 26%.

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