Another billion dollars over 30 years? CICTAR’s Edward Miller looks at DP World’s consortium bid for Lyttelton Port

Lyttelton Port

‍Christchurch City Holdings Limited is currently weighing an unsolicited bid from Tōnui, a consortium of global port giant DP World and three Ngāi Tahu Rūnanga, to operate and develop Lyttelton Port in New Zealand.

DP World is well known to CICTAR, with previous reports looking at their operations in Canada, Australia, and the threats to jobs from their increasing use of automation and AI‍ ‍

Writing on interest.co.nz,  CICTAR researcher, Ed Miller examines the financial case made for the bid by a consortium, including DP World, to take over Lyttelton Port. As he writes, “many will feel uncomfortable about the idea of surrendering operational control of a strategic asset like the South Island’s largest port to a foreign multinational (let alone one owned by another Government, Dubai's)”.

The lure of instant and significant investment has caught attention. But when Miller examines the potential longer term costs of the DP World bid versus an existing, local, proposal, he finds that “the DP World-backed proposal appears to impose more than $1 billion of additional cost over 30 years, an extra $37 million a year”.

As is so often the case, the lure of short term ‘free’ money may over-ride the concerns about longer term costs of profit extraction, job losses and tax dodging.