Lyttelton Port braces for hike in insurance at renewal

By Jason Krupp

Lyttelton Port Co., the South Island’s busiest port, is bracing itself for “big jump” in insurance costs as it looks to renew its cover, with the current policy set to lapse at the end of the month.

The port operator said Monday’s 5.6 and 6.3 magnitude aftershocks had caused further damage to its facilities, and is covered under the current in insurance arrangements. Lyttelton Port had previously taken a $22.6 million asset writedown after the September earthquake, with no figures relating to the February earthquake available.

“We anticipate a big jump in price but we haven’t got a quantum on that yet,” said chief executive Peter Davie told Yahoo Business Desk. Mr Davie is shown at right surveying damage.

 ”We are looking for smooth overlap, and our brokers have already had some preliminary talks. We’re moving in the right direction and we’re optimistic about getting that in place,” he said.

In a statement filed with the NZX, the Lyttelton Port said its wharves had sustained further damage as a result of the aftershocks, and new cracks had appeared in areas paved since February, although a full assessment was still in progress. Among the damage were two container cranes being unseated.

The port is still receiving and delivering containers although stevedoring of container vessels is only expected to resume at the weekend, with berthing windows suspended until further notice.

Mr Davie said rail links were not damaged, and the port was in discussions with KiwiRail on the resumption of rail services. General cargo operations are expected to resume tomorrow, although limits remain on CQ2 for car vessels. The log yards are operational and log receiving is operating as normal.

Further damage to the port’s oil berth was report, including further settlement of land. The city depot facility is operating normally following some realignment of container stacks.

LPC shares last traded yesterday at $2.26 on the NZX and are little changed since the start of the year.

Source: Yahoo Business Desk.