Maurice James to leave Patrick as Macquarie cautions

<p>Former Patrick director and the head of its ports business, Maurice James, is to leave the now Toll-controlled company for what he described as "personal reasons".</p> <p>Mr James said Toll had asked him to stay, but after 12 years with Patrick the opportunity to have "a break and think about what I want to do" may not come again. He will leave Patrick on June 8.</p> <p>Mr James said the $500m capital expansion program at Patrick was now well advanced and would not be affected by his departure. New quay cranes and rail-mounted gantries are now being delivered to Sydney and planning for more development in Melbourne is now underway.</p> <p>Mr James said Doug Schultz had been responsible for terminal operations, while he had been concentrating on logistics and PortLink rail business. </p> <p>Toll has been continuing talks with Patrick’s general managers this week and last week.</p> <p>Mr James’ departure comes as an otherwise bullish report on the Toll and Patrick merger by Macquarie Research warns of near term integration risks, including the loss of senior staff. </p> <p>It says that Toll management will also be "stretched like never before" by the doubling in size of the company following the SembLog and Patrick takeovers. </p> <p>The report said that synergies could offer returns "well above our forecast returns &#8211 if executed well over the next three years". There was also a danger of market expectations running ahead of reality as Toll spends longer inside Patrick, it said. </p> <p>Mr Schulz will be delivering the 2006 Boulton Lecture at a lunch this Thursday (May 25) at the Victorian Club in Melbourne.</p> <p>The event is hosted by Shipping Australia and the Company of Master Mariners of Australia and is sponsored by <em>Lloyd’s List DCN</em> .</p> <br />