Strike hits Ports of Auckland volumes

New Zealand's Ports of Auckland Ltd said on Thursday that a four-day strike had cut its cargo volumes in September.
Total container volumes for the 12 months to end-September 2004 were up 1 percent to 658,315 TEUs (twenty foot equivalents) compared with the previous September year, but down 18 percent on the September 2003 month.
Full import container volumes rose 3 percent and full export container volumes were down 1 percent for the 12 months to end-September 2004.
For the month of September, full import and full export container volumes were down 9 percent and 15 percent, respectively, on September 2003.
"The September volumes were significantly adversely affected by strike action and the disruption to some shipping services caused by events in other parts of the world," the company said.
Containers comprise about 70 percent of Ports of Auckland's throughput and about 85 percent of business activity.
Breakbulk (non-containerised) volumes were up 7 percent to 4.8 million tonnes for the 12 months to end-September 2004.
September volumes were up 38 percent on September 2003, due primarily to a near record month for imported used vehicles.
Ports of Auckland shares, majority owned by local authority, Auckland Regional Holdings, last traded at NZ$6.70, down 5 cents.
Ports of Auckland handles around two-thirds of all New Zealand imports by value and one third of all New Zealand exports by value.