Privatization of Ports of Auckland would be a disaster for Auckland

The Mari­time Uni­on says any privat­iz­a­tion of the Ports of Auck­land would be a dis­aster for Auck­land.

The Uni­on was respond­ing to the upcom­ing release of Coun­cil com­mis­sioned reviews into the future of the ports, and media reports of the pos­sib­il­ity of an oper­at­ing lease for the Ports going to a glob­al oper­at­or.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says relin­quish­ing con­trol of Auckland’s key stra­tegic asset would be a “lose lose situ­ation” for rate­pay­ers, work­ers and busi­nesses.

“The Aus­trali­an exper­i­ence is privat­isa­tion of port oper­a­tions cre­ates anoth­er lay­er of man­age­ment costs and profit-tak­ing for no real bene­fits.”

Mr Har­ris­on says poten­tial out­comes could include cus­tom­ers facing high­er ter­min­al charges, infra­struc­ture being run down, work­ers’ pay and con­di­tions being attacked, and a lack of account­ab­il­ity by over­seas equity investors.

“The risks of going down this path are massive, and the only bene­fi­ciar­ies in the long term would be the new own­ers.”

Mr Har­ris­on says the “one off sug­ar hit” of privat­iz­a­tion would soon wear off if the Port was per­mit­ted to effect­ively become a private mono­poly.

“Split­ting off leased port oper­a­tions from land own­er­ship does not change the fact the Ports would be privat­ized and the new own­er would have huge lever­age over Auck­land.

Mr Har­ris­on says the depend­ence of New Zea­l­and on glob­al ship­ping lines dur­ing the COVID pan­dem­ic cre­ated major prob­lems for New Zea­l­and busi­ness, with delays, con­ges­tion and price hikes.

He says as there is no stra­tegic plan for New Zea­l­and ports, the entry of Glob­al Net­work Ter­min­al oper­at­ors would have sim­il­ar implic­a­tions and could destabil­ize the nation­al sup­ply chain.

Mr Har­ris­on says after years of mis­man­age­ment, the Ports of Auck­land has recently turned the corner in per­form­ance.

He says his­tor­ic prob­lems were a res­ult of pre­vi­ous port management’s hos­tile approach to its work­force and the flawed auto­ma­tion pro­ject.

“New man­age­ment and the uni­on work­force are now work­ing in a con­struct­ive and pos­it­ive way, and with the can­cel­la­tion of the auto­ma­tion pro­ject, the Ports are back on track deliv­er­ing to Auck­land.”

Mr Har­ris­on says there is not wide sup­port for privat­iz­a­tion and most rate­pay­ers do not want to see key assets sold off.

“Our advice for Auck­land Coun­cil is to leave the Ports to get on with the job without con­tinu­ally mov­ing the goal­posts.”

Mr Har­ris­on says the Mari­time Uni­on wel­comed today’s state­ment from the May­or that he was open minded about the out­come of the cur­rent review, and that he would be enga­ging with stake­hold­ers includ­ing the Uni­on.

The Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and rep­res­ents the major­ity of the work­force at Ports of Auck­land.