PORTS OF AUCKLAND REQUIRES FULL INVESTIGATION

Mayoral candidate Craig Lord has been contacted by various business owners who use the Ports of Auckland for their imports, explaining their distress over the operations.

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“I was shocked to hear the stories,” Lord explains. “I’m not an importer or reseller so I was unaware of the growing issues facing our businesses in Auckland - and no doubt also around the country.”

Lord has also been told about a new fee that has been applied to every container. 

“POAL has just created a $400 USD ‘Congestion Charge’ and if you want your container you have to pay. The word extortion comes to mind.”

“Not only that, but I’ve been informed that under Phil Goff’s watch, the Auckland Council owned entity has become a full union operation rather than a commercial one. This has completely changed the efficiency of operations for the lesser.”

Lord has also been told that the Ports no longer operate the full 24 hours, and that a lot of the automation recently installed at a high price is not being utilised. He is promising to conduct a full investigation if elected as Mayor. 

“We need to find out the truth. If unions are playing games with an Auckland Council owned operation we need to nullify it immediately. The only way to sort this is by asking hard questions. History has told us that this doesn’t go down well with the old fashioned stevedore system.”
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“The board is full of people with extensive CV’s - so why am I hearing this feedback from business people? Does the board not know about the problems? I’ve got plenty of questions for them and it seems so do many Aucklanders.”