Maritime Union calls for ex-CEO to be dumped from port directorships

The Mar­itime Union says it is inde­fen­si­ble that for­mer CEO Tony Gib­son still holds direc­tor­ships with com­pa­nies asso­ci­at­ed with Ports of Auck­land Lim­it­ed.

Mr Gib­son resigned as CEO of Ports of Auck­land last year fol­low­ing wide­spread con­cerns about his man­age­ment of Ports of Auck­land.

Mr Gib­son is cur­rent­ly fac­ing health and safe­ty charges brought by reg­u­la­tor Mar­itime New Zealand as a result of one of sev­er­al deaths at Ports of Auck­land dur­ing his tenure.

This week, a mas­sive automa­tion project at Ports of Auck­land was can­celled by the new CEO and new Board of Direc­tors, and an inves­ti­ga­tion will be held into how the project was allowed to pro­ceed despite numer­ous con­cerns being raised by the Mar­itime Union and oth­ers.

Despite this, Mr Gib­son is still a direc­tor of two com­pa­nies asso­ci­at­ed with Ports of Auck­land Lim­it­ed.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Auck­land Branch Local 13 Sec­re­tary Rus­sell Mayn says it is a ridicu­lous sit­u­a­tion and the Union is call­ing for Mr Gibson’s removal from two direc­tor­ships.

“It is absolute­ly wrong that an ex-CEO who is before the courts on health and safe­ty charges is still a direc­tor of com­pa­nies with sub­stan­tial share­hold­ings by Ports of Auck­land.”

Accord­ing to the Com­pa­nies Office web­site, Antho­ny Michael Gib­son is a direc­tor of North Tugz and Mars­den Mar­itime Hold­ings.

Mars­den Mar­itime Hold­ings are the own­ers of North­port and have a 19.9% share­hold­ing by Ports of Auck­land.

North Tugz are 50% owned by POAL and 50% by North­port.