Sharechat Logo

Coal volumes may rise 50% at Lyttelton Port

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Friday 6th October 2000

Text too small?
The Lyttelton Port Company says the low kiwi dollar augurs well for increasing coal volumes through the port this year.

Speaking at the company's AGM today chairman, Brent Layton, said the volume of coal exported through the port bounced back last year to 1.4 million tonnes, and may grow by up to 50% in the short to medium term.

Mr Layton says while discussions with Solid Energy about its future requirements are ongoing, the port could handle a 50% increase in coal volumes from current levels with modest levels of capital expenditure.

The port company says it is also expecting a boom summer for tourist ship visits, with more 31 bookings already for the coming summer season and indications that up to 50 vessels could visit the following summer.

"New Zealand is a hot destination, and Lyttelton is a popular place for the vessels to call because of the tourist attractions in the Canterbury region," says Mr Layton.

Another area the company is planning to capitalise on is the introduction of much bigger container vessels at the port.

Mr Layton some months ago shipping line P&O Nedlloyd announced its intention to introduce super container ships which will carry up to 1500 containers at a time compared to the 1000 which regular container ships exchange.

"Lyttelton is very well placed compared with most other ports in New Zealand to handle these vessels in terms of draught and ease of navigation. We will, however, have to increase our crane capacity, the length of berth over which we can operate the cranes, the number of straddle carriers we can deploy, and our ability to handle trucks. Planning for these requirements is underway."

  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

Lyttelton Port annual earnings near bottom of guidance, dividends return in 2014
Ngai Tahu's Burt to lead Lyttelton Port board
Solid Energy, cruise ship revenue losses pull Port of Lyttelton down
Lyttelton Port sees 2013 annual earnings down by as much as 23%
Lyttelton Port won't accept cruise bookings for 2013-14 season
Lyttelton Port defers cruise berth development as cost soars 40%
Lyttelton Port battles insurer, cruise ship numbers plunge
Three-month wait for Lyttelton Port quake costs
Failed merger a major hurdle for South Island ports
Lyttelton Port calls off merger talks with Otago