The contribution of staff in helping make Port Taranaki a successful, sustainable business was recognised at the company’s annual general meeting last week.

The winner of the 2018 Annual Staff Recognition Award was announced and, for the first time in the award’s three-year history, two staff members shared the honour – marine planner Hannah Haskell and marine engineering supervisor Grant Squire.

Seven award nominations were considered spanning all areas of the business – from finance, customer service, and human resources, through to planning, civil works, and marine. The award recognises contributions in project leadership, continuous improvement, capturing value or efficiency risk reduction.

Each nominee made a presentation to chief executive Guy Roper, who made a recommendation to the port’s board of directors, with the board making the final decision.

Hannah was recognised for taking a key role in developing and implementing the port’s vessel planning principles through communication with customers, stevedores, agents, and operations and maintenance teams. This has led to ship berthing being optimised and a stable operating platform being established. It has also helped improve fatigue management of staff and work/life balance during heavy shipping periods. 

Grant was honoured for leading the project to specify, commission, design and build the port’s new tug Kīnaki. He carried the overall technical responsibility for the three-year project as the port sought a modern vessel that was unique for the company’s needs and would be fit for purpose for decades to come. He made a number of trips to Turkey, working alongside the tug builder, Sanmar Shipyards, to ensure the port’s vision was realised.

Guy said all the nominations were of high quality, with several outstanding. 

“It was extremely difficult to choose between the joint winners and several others were close to them,” he said.

“Grant took on a great level of responsibility for the Kīnaki project. He shouldered the load, established great relationships with the outside agencies working on the project and had a focus on detail and quality that was outstanding.

“Hannah took leadership of the vessel planning project without any fuss or flapping. She displayed deep knowledge, communicated well across the company and with external parties, and was a great example of ‘anticipate, respond, learn and mentor’.  It was a pleasure to watch her confidence grow,” Guy said.

As well as the trophy, the winners received a monetary prize.