Lyttelton settles insurance claim

Lyttelton Port Company in New Zealand has been fined a total of NZ$128,000 over the death of Bradley Fletcher last year. The port worker was killed in August 2014 after the scissor lift he was using toppled over, while he was trying to jump-start a straddle carrier. He was thrown from the lift, hitting a container, before falling to the ground.

The New Zealand Government has given Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) permission to fasttrack a planned 10 hectare reclamation using up to 1 mt of rubble caused by the devastating February 22 earthquake in the Canterbury region.

New Zealand’s Lyttelton Port of Christchurch has suffered earthquake damage for the third time in nine months.

The proposed merger of the New Zealand South Island ports of Lyttelton and Otago (Port Chalmers) has been frozen while Lyttelton deals with the consequences of the September earthquake.

Eyebrows have been raised in New Zealand after claims by Maersk Line that it is worried about the market power that could be exercised by a merger between the ports of Lyttelton and Otago.

Leading New Zealand South Island ports Lyttelton and Otago are discussing a merger but Lyttelton has made it clear it will not entertain a takeover, even though Otago already holds a significant shareholding.