The Mayor of Auckland & Ward Councillors of Auckland Council Town Hall Queen Street Auckland 8th February

2011 Benjamin Ross 89 Arimu Road Papakura 2110 Auckland

To: The Mayor of Auckland Len Brown; and Ward Councillors of Auckland Council The industrial relations dispute between to Port of Auckland Limited and the Maritime Union New Zealand while proving to be disruptive to the wider city and economy, it is also a catalyst to underlying issues at the port. Port of Auckland is sick and in need of some serious help. Auckland Council has mandated to POAL management that the Return on Investment be increased from the current 6% to the new rate of 12%. However since the former Auckland Regional Council through its various holdings increased its POAL stake from 20% to 100%, the value and the Return of Investment for the port have slipped and productivity not where it should be optimally. Therefore to tackle the wider issues at Port of Auckland, I believe Auckland Council should conduct a full independent enquiry to best see how the Rate of Investment can be lifted without causing major upsets to the labour component. This letter and the request of enquiry are not interested in the current industrial relations dispute between Port of Auckland Limited management and the Maritime Union of New Zealand. This letter and request of enquiry looks at five fundamental questions into the state of affairs at Port of Auckland and how steps can be taken to return the port back to optimum health and productivity. In setting up the enquiry, these five questions would be answered they are: 1) Is the Ports of Auckland investment achieving approx 6% ROI, or isnt it? And if not, what is its ROI?; and 2) Were there any significant work performance issues at the Ports of Auckland that would justify the Board of Directors and its Chairman contemplating a move to contract out the stevedoring function? And if so, what were those performance issues?; and 3) Is what McCarten claims true, about the current Board of Directors having a relatively-thin level of experience in operating a Port? And if so, why are they on the Board, and what possible value do they hope to bring to our valuable Public Asset?

4) For the sake of optimal Return on Investment and Productivity in benefit to the wider economy and social environment: Which ownership model would be considered best for Port of Auckland Limited. 100% Council Owned 75% Council Owned, 25% Private owned Mixed Model: 51% Council Owned, 49% Private Owned Minority Holding: 75% Private, 25% Council Owned Full Privatisation 5) For the sake of optimal Return on Investment and Productivity in benefit to the wider economy and social environment: What location would be most suited for Port of Auckland: Port stays where it is and infrastructure upgrades are committed Port gets relocated to somewhere INSIDE Auckland, example south east Auckland Port is relocated somewhere OUTSIDE Auckland. That would mean Port of Tauranga, and Marsden Point in Northland which would also give way to subsequent infrastructure upgrades as well. These five above questions need to be answered sooner rather than later especially as these questions and possible outcomes would have major bearing on The Draft Auckland Spatial Plan and The Draft Long Term Plan. Enough of a major bearing that no matter which way the enquiry recommends in questions four and five it could basically force a total re-write of both draft plans. As for who would conduct this enquiry and the time frame needed, the enquiry board would consist of up to seven people drawing on from: business, industry, engineers and academics to give as broad-range yet expert research advice as possible. The time frame for such an enquiry would be around six to nine months, be fully autonomous from Auckland Council but funded by the Council. The enquiry would be allow to draw on lobby and public input if deemed required and the final research report plus recommendations should be made public from the onset as this is of high interest to the wider city and economy. The point is with the enquiry into Port of Auckland is it will give solid analytical, evidence based research and recommendations to how best nurse our sick port back to health as well as any spin offs that might occur. The enquiry and its subsequent recommendations might say that relocating the port and/or switching to a minority stake into Port of Auckland could provide a golden spin off opportunity for Auckland such as redeveloping the waterfront, or the enquiry could say that relocating the port and a sell down could be an absolute disaster for Auckland. But we will never know unless an objective, factual, analytical, evidence based independent enquiry is held as to be frank; subjective political opinion from Auckland Council into the POAL affair means very little to me and wider Auckland. My blog View of Auckland is providing commentary into the Port of Auckland in regards to questions four and five of the enquiry as well as implications to The Draft Auckland Plan. The blog can be viewed at http://voakl.net and is updated regularly on planning issues and news (including the Port of Auckland saga) in Auckland.

Auckland Council wants the best for the City then this enquiry would be the prime opportunity into looking into a serious issue and developing resolutions to help the Return of Investment at Port of Auckland and the outcomes that would stem from it. To do nothing is to miss out on what could be a prime time to advance Auckland forward and condemn the city to mediocrity that this city has endured for so long. I implore to get this enquiry underway urgently. Yours Sincerely Benjamin W Ross Administrator of View of Auckland Blog http://voakl.net PH: 027 859 1988 E: voakladmin@gmail.com