New Zealand Shippers’ Council “Tauranga first” recommendation welcomed by Heart of the City

Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney has welcomed a report from the New Zealand Shippers’ Council which proposes that the container port at Tauranga should be developed before Auckland to handle bigger container ships.

“The Shippers’ Council, representing large volume cargo owners like Fonterra and the Meat Industry Association, has come up with aTauranga first recommendation which makes good sense,” says Swney.

“That is not to say that we do not recognise the current role of the port in Auckland,” says Swney, “it’s just that we need to be looking more broadly at the role of our waterfront in the long term.”

“What this report does, in our view, is confirm that we need to look more closely at how the two ports can work more collaboratively, so that we can optimise our port, road and rail investments,” says Swney.

Some of the key points made in the report are:

1. New Zealand trade depends on cost-effective supply chains. Container ships are getting bigger and we need to be able to accommodate them.
2. Australian ports are gearing up for 7000 TEU ships – a TEU is a “twenty foot equivalent unit”, a standard container
3. New Zealand should not run the risk of its exports having to pass through Australian ports. That could increase net supply chain costs to NZ $194m per year, versus $144m per year of potential benefits by being 7,000 TEU ship capable.
4. One port in each island should become 7,000 TEU ship capable within five years – Tauranga and Lyttleton.
5. Tauranga is recommended ahead of Auckland for a range of factors including readiness, cost, Auckland political risks (the report references Queen’s wharf), competition with public transport and transit oriented development around rail lines (for example, Orakei), and the Shipping Council is not confident Auckland could become 7000 TEU ship capable within 5 years.

Swney says:

1. The report is a useful step towards getting a productive discussion going about road and rail infrastructure investment optimisation. “The Government’s let the market decide stance won’t, in my view, cut it much longer. Port, road and rail infrastructure development are inextricably linked.”

2. The report recognises the changing form and economy of Auckland, but does not attempt to analyse this. Fair enough, it’s not the subject of the report. But by 2006 tourism had grown to $18.6billion annually, 10% of nominal GDP, with international tourism nearly 50% and growing faster than domestic. Export tourism promotes “100% Pure NZ”, is labour intensive, helps revitalise communities, supports local investment in infrastructure and leisure activities, and will be increasingly important in Auckland becoming an internationally competitive city. 70% of all foreign visitors come through Auckland. “At $160 revenue per extra day stayed,” says Swney, “one extra bed night in Auckland would contribute an extra $250m+ to the economy.” Of course not everyone will stay a night longer, but it provides an interesting comparison at least – extra person or extra container, and where?

3. The public transport requirements of rail and the growth of town centres around rail is a very big issue and will be a key component of the spatial plan once the new Auckland Council gets its feet under the table. “An increasing number of longer freight trains passing through built up communities will become an important issue,” says Swney.

4. “Inevitably issues around shipping containers – imports, exports, hubbing, and where – have huge impacts on the waterfront, the CBD, and the way we (urban) design our city,” says Swney. It is important for Auckland that this gets through to the new Council and the CCOs, and hopefully also becomes a priority for the Government.

ENDS

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