Graduation Nights: 2011 Graduation

 ”POLITICS IN PORT OPERATIONS AND OWNERSHIP”

The involvement and influence of politics in port operations and local government decision making was the theme of the address by Cr Mike Lee, former chairman of the Auckland Regional Council (shown at right above) at the NZMS Nautical prize giving at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in November 2011.

Cr Lee recalled incidents from his time at sea and later ashore when he became involved in port ownership issues and the council became the major shareholder in Ports of Auckland.

Speaking to graduates, he recalled his time at sea, and highlighted the strong friendships he developed with his maritime colleagues.

” First of all I was a ship’s officer - but a rather unique species - a Radio Officer - and thanks to advances in technology now an extinct species (in a way rather like a Chairman of the ARC) And truth be known if it wasn’t for the onward advance of technology I might be still at sea,” he said.

“In my time, the Maritime School was called the Nautical School, and just about every deck officer I sailed with on the NZ coast and indeed offshore was a graduate of this school. 

“I started off at sea in 1972 and 1973 on the government owned islands trader Moana Roa running between Auckland and mainly the Cook Islands.  I later joined Jardine Mathesons (Indo-China Steam Navigation Company) of Hong Kong early in 1978 - sailed in bulk carriers on world-wide tramping.   I stayed with Jardines until the mid 80s.  During that period I also had a brief stint with the Union Company in Ngapara running between NZ and Australia - I didn’t stay long and went straight back to Jardines.  I then joined OCL in 84 and I was in the container ship Aotea running between Auckland and Japan.  In 1985 I joined the NZ Shipping Corporation.

“In 1989 the New Zealand Shipping Corporation was reflagged, manned with non-union Spanish  and British crews and then sold.  This was a very traumatic time.  I was caught up in the inevitable the industrial strife, and picket lines.   The Merchant Service Guild was led by Captain George Kaye and though we won most of our industrial battles - especially in court - we were unable to save the Shipping Corporation from being broken up and sold off.  Looking back that was the time in my life when I transitioned from being a standard sea-going type to someone more actively political,” he said..

“It is sad even now for me to think of what happened to the NZ Shipping Corporation.  Looking back I believe the company wasn’t that well managed or well led, but I think the fault can be shared around everywhere in the work force from the top to the bottom.  Anyway in the end NZ Shipping Corporation and all its assets was sold off for the laughable sum of $8 million dollars.

“Of course at the same time communication technology changes were underway and medium frequency and high frequency communications  by morse code were about to be superseded by satellite communications.  I took the redundancy and went off to Auckland University and studied for a science degree.”

About this time, a by-election was called for the old Auckland Regional Council for the Auckland Central seat in which Cr Lee had lived (on Waiheke Island) for some time.  He was interested in conservation and environmental matters so he stood and was elected. 

“I was then immediately thrown into the hurly burly of regional politics,” Cr Lee said. ” The issue I walked into at the time was the proposed sale of the Ports of Auckland or rather the 80% shareholding - the other 20% was owned by the Waikato Regional Council.  The government of the day had ordered the ARC to sell the port and it seemed a majority of the largely conservative ARC members were willing to oblige.

 ”But for me it brought back the trauma of the sale of the NZ Shipping Corporation and so fighting to stop the sale of the port was something I was willing to do. The council’s financial advisers Fay Richwhite were looking at a price of $200 million (which was hopelessly undervalued).  However my election campaign for the ARC did two things.  First of all it raised the issue of the port sale - previously under the radar as a political issue which was taken up by talkback radio, especially Radio Pacific.  Secondly my election shifted the political balance on the council.

“The campaign led to a massive public petition - so after several weeks of debate three of the previous pro-sale elected members began to waver and change their minds.  In the end a notice of motion which I jointly sponsored with fellow ARC member the late Bruce Jesson to resolve not to sell the ARC shares in the Ports of Auckland was carried after a long dramatic debate and in the full blare of publicity - but by just one vote.

Since that time well over a billion dollars in dividends and capital repayments from port profits have been returned to the region.  This was used in the first instance to pay off debt - but then to invest in transport and other infrastructure.  The current renaissance in commuter rail services in Auckland, including the Britomart Transport centre, the 30 or so new rail stations and a whole fleet of refurbished rolling stock, and soon a brand new fleet of electric multiple units, would have been impossible to even contemplate let alone achieve without the ownership and the wealth generated by the Ports of Auckland,” he said.

In 2004 , Cr Lee became chairman of the Auckland Regional Council.

“One of the first major decisions and a somewhat controversial one (though very popular with most Aucklanders at the time ) was our decision to buy back the 20% of shares privatised by the Waikato Regional Council in 1994.

“Of course, 100% ownership would give us much greater control of the port.  It would also enable us to extract the 18ha Wynyard Point Tank farm land out of the port and begin to redevelop it. This we proceeded to do.

“One of the reasons for taking the 17 ha Wynyard Quarter land away from the Port was that we believed the demands of redeveloping this area was taking a huge amount of time and energy which was distracting the Port Company from its core business - servicing ships and their cargoes.

“Just about everything at Wynyard Point (including the trams) was planned and financed by the ARC Group prior to the super city from capital originating from the port.  But the Wynyard Quarter contains a much greater ingredient of public open space and amenity than could have been enabled under a strictly commercially focussed development by Ports of Auckland,” he said.

The other decision which again generated quite a lot of public interest was the joint ARC/NZ Government purchase from the Ports of Auckland of Queens Wharf. 

“The motives for this was based on multiple reasons.  Politically, we have had to contend with an insistent lobby group that argued we don’t need a port in Auckland and that the two kilometres occupied by the commercial  port should be turned into more apartments, parks and public areas,” he said.

“Queens Wharf was planned to becoming surplus to port’s operational requirements being used to store imported cars, and imported fruit notably bananas.  We wanted Queens Wharf for two reasons  -1) open it up to the public and -2) reconfigure it as the main cruise ship terminal.   The idea rather than accepted the assumption that ships have to be separated from the public here was an opportunity to get the public back onto Queens Wharf with ships.  There was another reason of course and that is the government was keen to make Queens Wharf the number one fan zone and as a site for the famous ‘Cloud’ for the Rugby World Cup.”

In April 2010 that transaction was completed, and Queens Wharf (3 ha) was opened to the public for the first time in 90 years. 

“Queens Wharf succeeded admirably as a fan zone despite all the critics back in 2010 who said no one would turn up,” he said. ” In fact on a number of occasions too many people turned up and extra fan zone space had to be allocated.”

For the future, Cr Lee said that cruise shipping was enjoying a remarkable renaissance.  From a handful of visits 10 years ago, 101 cruise ship calls were booked for 2012/13.  The council would fund a new cruise ship terminal of some $25m based on Shed 10.

“Eventually Ports of Auckland will move off Captain Cook Wharf which was used as an overflow fan zone during the Rugby World Cup.  If it does then I would argue that Captain Cook wharf when opened to the public be still used for commercial shipping - the type of shipping which doesn’t required to be kept behind high security fences such as required post 9/11  - ships such as cruise ships, other passenger vessels, naval vessels. research ships, fishing boats etc,” he said.

“As regards the future of the Ports of Auckland itself - I believe we need to remain on guard against those who continue to lobby for the commercial port to be shut down and transferred to Tauranga.   While Tauranga is and always will be very important New Zealand port , the Auckland port is uniquely placed and has the major competitive advantage at being situated at the front door of the CBD of NZ inc.

“POAL handled $26.4 billion of NZ imports/exports in 2010 which is equivalent to 16% of national GDP.  This includes $9.6 b in exports and $16.8b in imports.  This equates to 31% by value of NZ total trade.  In comparison Port of Tauranga handles 16% NZ trade and interestingly enough Auckland International Airport handles 15% (by value) of NZ Trade.  In addition POAL supports 22% of the Auckland economy and sustains 187,000 jobs.”

Cr Lee said that New Zealand was an island nation -  a trading nation.  

“Shipping is the life blood of our economy.  Furthermore Auckland is a harbour city, and a port city.   The city grew from the port and economically, Auckland is still critically reliant on the port and maritime trade.  The south shore of the Waitemata Harbour after all was selected as the site for New Zealand’s capital by our first Governor, Captain William Hobson, who happened to be a Royal naval officer,  precisely because of the excellence of the harbour,” he said.

“Coming back to seafaring and to the graduate officers here this evening - I must confess there is hardly a day that doesn’t pass when I see a ship out in the stream and wish that I was on her.  My time at sea, the places and things I visited and saw,  the people I worked with and became close friends with but never saw again, and most of all the humour and comradeship is something I will never ever forget.

“As sea officers you have a great and honourable profession - one to be really proud of.”

Footnote: Mike Lee is a councillor on the Auckland super city council, and is a former chairman of the Auckland Regional Council. He chairs the transport committee of Auckland Council, and sits on the board of Auckland Transport, the CCO which manages the city’s transport infrastructure.

He was first elected to the ARC in a by-election in 1992 and was elected chairman in 2004.

With the amalgamation of the ARC into the Auckland Council he was elected in the Waitemata and Gulf ward as a councillor. He has been very critical of the form of the new council as created by the Government (though he supported the creation of the council itself), and especially of the creation of large business-like council controlled organisations (CCOs) to manage substantial parts of the council-owned assets and services at arm’s length from actual council control, trying to ensure they remained free of political influence.

NZMS Masters and Mates and their families, friends and supporters gathered for the 2011 Nautical Graduation Ceremony. Each year the New Zealand Maritime School holds its Graduation Ceremony, and students from the nautical courses receive their awards. The event is an important occasion in every student’s life, as it marks a threshhold as they move from training and student life into the commercial world of transport, logistics and shipping.

The 2011 graduation was led by NZMS Director Captain Tim Wilson, and the guest speaker was the Cr Mike Lee.  Other guests were Ben Johnson and John Frankland, representing the Master Mariners Association, Andrew Howarth (Viking Recruitment), Graham Bird (Golden Bay), Ivor Minnis, (the Interislander), and Andy Neville (Swire Shipping).

The presentations of awards from the evening’s activities are shown below, together with the recipients of the special prizes made available for nautical students. 

Naomi Honiss, centre, who was the top engineering student in the year at the NZMS prizegiving in Auckland. With her are Cr Mike Lee, left, and Tim Wilson, Director of the NZMS.	Luke Grogan, winner of the 2011  Captain Worth prize for Masters and Mates. With him are Cr Lee and NZMS Director Tim Wilson.	Clinton D’Souza was the top Marine Engineers Class 2 student. He is shownwe with Cr Lee and Tim wilson, Diorector of NZMS at the graduation ceremony.
NZMS top Master Mate student, Josh Rodgers at the 2011 graduartion ceremony. He is shown with guest speaker Cr Mike Lee and NZMS Director Tim Wilson.	Emiel Robinson, top Marine Engineer Cloass 3 student at the NZMS prizegiving, with , at left, Cr Mike Lee, and right, NZMS Director Tim Wilson.	The NZMS Award for the most improved student went to Dion Gillard, shown here with Cr Mike Lee, left, and Tim Wilson, NZMS Director, at right.
Guests and students attending the NZMS Graduation ceremony at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.	More guests enjoying the NZMS Graduationm Ceremony for Nautical Students in November 2011.	Happy guests enjoying the dinner part of the NZMS nautical graduation ceremony.

NB: Yashwant Kumar, the top NZMS Marine Engineering Class 1 student was not able to attend the 2011 graduation ceremony as he was already working abroad.