Picton ‘a golden egg’ for Wellington

Press, 18 June 1986, Page 1

Picton ‘a golden egg’ for Wellington

Any move by the Wellington Harbour Board to take control of Picton Harbour would be “totally opposed” by the Marlborough Harbour Board, said its chairman, Mr Bruno Dalliessi, yesterday. ‘ He could see no benefit to the Marlborough board in agreeing to such a merger. The board ran at a profit while the Wellington board did not. “Picton Harbour would simply become a golden egg to their operations in Wellington,” said Mr Dalliessi. “There is no way at all we would accept the political and administrative control of the Harbour Board’s going outside the Marlborough district,” he said. Several Wellington Harbour Board officers had

joked about such a takeover before but the public announcement of the plan showed there was a genuine interest in the proposal, Mr Dalliessi said. HIS board would be happy to take over the Cook Strait ferry terminal facilities at Wellington. Picton’s facilities surpassed those at Wellington and Wellington’s berthage and cargo handlingcharges were 50 per cent higher than those at Picton. “We would be able to operate both at a lower cost than at present, which would benefit the whole of New Zealand’s transport Industry,” said Mr Dalliessi. The Marlborough board has already considered merging with the Malborough United Council.

Mr Dalliessi said serious discussions began in August, 1985. The United Council had agreed to a merger and the Local Government Commission had said it would be willing to consider such a merger if the move came from the Harbour Board. In a close vote, the Harbour Board had agreed not to continue the discussions until after the release of the onshore cost study which was expected to be released by the Government in several months. Mr Dalliessi said he convinced the board in May to continue discussions. A meeting was to be held next week with the United Council and the Local Government Commission. Earlier report, page 2-