‘Bluewater backbone’: Lyttelton Port Company, Port of Auckland plan $1b+ in upgrades

The container stacks at Lyttelton Port Company looking towards the harbour entrance. (Image: LPC)

Wed, 02 Jul 2025

They’re both raising prices and planning infrastructure upgrades worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Oliver Lewis speaks with the CEOs of two of the largest ports in NZ. Looking down into Gollans Bay from the road between Christchurch and Lyttelton, you can see a steady stream of trucks heading between the quarry and the port. Every day, Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) and its contractors move 125 truckloads of volcanic rock – around 6,000 tonnes of material – for its latest reclamation project: taking back seven hectare...

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