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Port of Tauranga reported a 7.3% rise in full year profit to $45.2 million as dairy and log export cargos increased.
Despite those gains, total operating revenue for the year to the end of June fell 3.5% on the previous year to $143.6 million, with container throughput down 4%.
Chairman John Parker says the financial market collapse caused a commodity boom to turn to bust. For Port of Tauranga that meant a considerable change to trading patterns with overcapacity, especially in container shipping.
A final dividend of 18c per share will be paid, up on 16cps last year. The total for the year is 27cps, compared to 25cps the year before.
Port of Tauranga continued to make a public stand on the issue of port rationalisation, Parker says.
Newer and larger container ships wanted to begin servicing New Zealand but required spending of hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructure to accommodate them.
"That cost and the requirements of these vessels to make at most two New Zealand port calls and to discharge and load big tonnages quickly means that New Zealand cannot afford or service more than two such ports.
"A port hierarchy must develop where other ports feed in cargoes to the two primary ports by road, rail and sea," Parker says.
"If port owners don't move, falling revenues and market forces will dictate change."
Gains made
CEO Mark Cairns says the port company's rise in earnings on reduced trade and revenue could be attributed to reduced costs, the improved dairy and log exports, increased property income from 13.7ha of land bought in the past 17 months, and lower interest costs and a lower corporate tax rate.
Total trade was down 0.5% on the previous year to 13.46 million tonnes.
Log exports were up 27%, dairy exports up 24%, meat exports up 17% and coal imports up 68%.
Declines included processed forestry exports, down 5%, kiwifruit exports down 4%, palm kernel and grain imports down 10%, steel exports down 6%, oil imports down 6%, and fertiliser base imports down 23%.
While it remained difficult to provide guidance for the new year, for now the port remained confident of maintaining a full year earnings result similar to last year's, Cairns says.
Port of Tauranga shares were unchanged shortly after the results announcement at $6.55, having ranged between $7.30 and $4.85 in the past year.
