How we got here
THEY’VE TRIED THIS BEFORE — DON’T LET COUNCIL AND CCHL GIVE CONTROL OF OUR PORT TO DUBAI-BASED D.P. WORLD
In 2023, Christchurch City Council (CCC) nearly handed complete control of public infrastructure — including the Port — to Christchurch City Holdings Limited (CCHL), the investment arm of the council.
The vote was taken with only a single days’ notice—and attempt to rush through a full or partial sale of Christchurch’s public infrastructure, worth $5.8 billion dollars—showing contempt for public oversight and democratic control of our local infrastructure.
CCHL had said that with greater independence they would ‘allow dilution’ and ‘create liquid assets.’ In other words, they would sell off your infrastructure to private (and likely foreign) interests.
The motion was defeated narrowly by a vote of 8 to 7, but the threat to public ownership isn't over. With a general election coming up, it's time to take a stand on your opposition to the loss of public control over our public infrastructure. If it wasn’t valuable, they wouldn’t be interested.
Don’t let this happen. A decision to hand over operational control of the Port to private interests will make a quick buck, but it will cause long term harm to Christchurch residents.
LPC Management & the Agenda to Privatise
CCHL portfolio capitalisation — A very brief rundown
In 2022 the Christchurch City Council hired the investment bank Northington Partners to conduct review of strategy and scope of CCHL portfolio. The stated purpose was due financial diligence and the decision was made towards the end of the councillors’ three-year term.
Currently CCHL’s portfolio includes 100% ownership of Christchurch’s port, airport, Internet infrastructure (Enable), and power infrastructure (Orion), and maintenance of our three waters infrastructure through City Care.
Northington Partner’s report described LPC’s underperformance and blamed this largely on its lazy unionised work force. They claimed the strength of the unions maintained inefficient working conditions. The report advised that LPC could boost its profitability through a partial sale. It said that an interested party could raise capital, and add skills and experience to reduce operating costs and increase profits. The capital raised through partial sale could be used to pay off CCHL debt that was created when CCC took money out of its businesses to offset the short fall in civic insurance pay outs for infrastructure rebuild after the 2010-2011 earthquakes.
After this LPC experienced a number of resignations and sackings of in both its management team and governing board. Ultimately the new LPC Board Chair Barry Brag appointed Graeme Sumner to be the port’s new CEO. Graeme Sumner has a notorious reputation of contracting out operations and diminishing working conditions by creating a workplace where industrial relationships and good faith are not valued.
Shortly after Barry and Graeme were installed, word came out that DP World was sniffing around. There are unsubstantiated reports that the CEO, some board members, city councillors and maybe the mayor have met a number of times with DP World. LPC, confirmed this but said it was "merely on an operational level".
Later the CEO and CFO of CCC resign in quick succession for reasons not fully disclosed. Both were supporters of privatisation of the City’s assets and infrastructure, however.
In 2024, the Council met to decide whether to explore the Northington report’s business case. The then CCHL Board chair and CEO advised that its companies should be removed from a strategic infrastructure register to allow a more detailed investigation into the Northington Report. The city councillors voted not to remove the companies from the register and to bin the Northington Report Business Case. The vote was very close with Andrei Moore (Halswell councillor) being a swing vote.
The CCHL Chair and CEO resigned after a public spat with some councillors, and the untenable situation they now found themselves in. CCHL Chair and CEO were replaced.
The unions now have reliable information that LPC board and management intend to lease out operations at the container terminal, and the interested party remains DP World.
At the 2024 CCHL AGM both port unions (RMTU and MUNZ) made it very clear they do not trust the LPC CEO, most of the executive management team, and the CCHL board.
The CCC continues to state that our infrastructure will be owned and operated by the city, and that management should engage with its workforce in good faith and foster good industrial relationships.
From the trade union perspective, however, industrial relations at LPC are at an all-time low.
RMTU has taken two votes of no confidence in LPC. Some Christchurch City Councillors were in attendance.
Currently both the RMTU and MUNZ have legal cases against LPC for regularly breaching their collective contracts.