Port of Tauranga to buy Tapper Transport

Port of Tauranga has agreed to buy Tapper Transport, which operates a freight hub and warehouse system adjacent to the port’s MetroPort site in south Auckland, for $15 million.

The deal includes a two-year earn out provision provided earnings targets are met to a maximum $4 million, Port of Tauranga said in a statement. The acquisition would lift per-share earnings immediately, it said.

Family-owned Tapper carries about 90,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers a year and its freight station in Onehunga is the largest Freight All Kinds centre in Australasia, according to Port of Tauranga’s statement.

The station, which is Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry approved and Customs-bonded, unpacks about 12,000 TEUs of import cargo a year and packs about 3,000 TEUs of export cargo a year.

By comparison, MetroPort handled 170,000 TEUs in the 12 months ended June 2008. It didn’t provide more recent figures.

Port of Tauranga established MetroPort in 1999, establishing a beachhead in rival Ports of Auckland’s backyard that leverages the rail link with Tauranga.

The acquisition “will enable us to further develop MetroPort as an integrated freight centre and distribution hub,” Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said.

The statement said Tapper director Simon Tapper, who died yesterday, had been a strong supporter of the deal.

The shares fell 9 cents to $6.91 yesterday and have gained 35 per cent in the past 12 months.

- BusinessDesk