CentrePort trade up on exports

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Aug 2009

Wellington port's annual container volumes rose 4 per cent in the year ended June. CentrePort said containerised exports rose 10 per cent, with growth in general cargo volumes, forestry, seafood and scrap metal. Offsetting that was a nil increase in imported containers, with imported cars plunging more than 50 per cent.
Strong export demand from China and India helped fuel the rise in exports, plus some containerisation of logs, when freight prices were low and space for bulk shipping was tight.
Chief executive Blair O'Keeffe said one month into the new year, volumes were looking steady and the port was in growth mode. But he warned trading was still looking tough.
"The import demand is obviously directly related to the confidence in the New Zealand economy and that's still a factor which has some fragility to it. The export sector is looking like it's going to continue to be strong but there's some pretty strong links to shipping rates and global demand, alongside the value of the dollar.
"Those three have a big influence in the attractiveness in the export sector for the major exporters in New Zealand and they don't always work in harmony."

Source: Stuff