[crocos]

In many ways it's both. If the PoA was a reliable port, I'm sure Fontera wouldn't mind paying a little more than going through other ports. As it is, splitting the load between Tauranga and Napier HAS to be less efficient than going through the significantly higher-capacity Port of Auckland, so those saying it's costing Fontera less are full of shit. Except when you compare it to what it would be costing Fontera to go through PoA at the moment - millions of lost revenue from disrupted shipments over quite a period of time - but those costs were brought about by the strife between the unions and PoA management, so it seems a perfectly valid statement that PoA isn't reliable enough to provide certainty of shipping on any given date.