Storage tanks need to stay in Auckland

For your consideration: comment from the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern).

Storage tanks need to stay in Auckland

By Peter Atkinson
Owners and users of the Tank Farm facilities at Wynyard Point on Auckland’s inner city waterfront are considering their future, since the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) decided to change the usage of the area.

The ARC’s intention is to clear the point of all tank storage for bulk liquids that include diesel for ships, industrial chemicals and vegetable oils, and convert it to activities and buildings zoned for residential, light commercial/retail and recreational purposes. The ARC has tasked its subsidiary Sea+City to carry out this task.

The problem is that no one seems to have thought seriously about where the Tank Farm facility could go, nor about the economic impact of removing these facilities from Wynyard Point. As laudable as the proposals are for the creation of apartments, restaurants, cafes, bars and open space, there is still a need for an alternate facility around Auckland for the receipt and storage of bulk liquids.

Around 300,000 tonnes of bulk liquids are imported and stored here each year (according to figures from Market Economics 2008). Only now is the ARC coming to the realisation that these operations provide downstream employment for thousands of employees in industries that use and process the products, and that these industries add many millions per annum to the Auckland regional gross domestic product.

A proposal to move the Tank Farm to the Port of Tauranga is no solution at all, as this involves the addition of millions of dollars of costs due to the need for additional storage and transport to get the products to Auckland. It would also increase road congestion markedly, as up to 10,000 extra tanker trips would be made between Auckland and Tauranga each year – that’s an average of 28 trips a day - not to mention the increased environmental risk of shifting large amounts of hazardous materials by truck.

In response to this relocation challenge, a group of about 40 interested companies has got together and is pursuing the issue jointly with the ARC, Auckland City Council and the Ports of Auckland. As part of its advocacy role on behalf of business, the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) Inc is assisting this group to ensure the continued provision of facilities for importing and storing bulk liquids in the Auckland area.

Part of the problem is the timetable that the ARC is working to, with some Tank Farm operators having to get out as early as 2013. This means they have a very short time in which to find a suitable alternative site, gain agreement from the parties concerned, gain the necessary council consents, and then make the investments needed to set up an alternative facility. It simply isn’t enough time.

As a consequence, downstream industrial users of the bulk liquids may make the decision to relocate their businesses outside Auckland rather than face considerably higher costs and uncertainty of supply, and who could blame them? They will take jobs with them.

To date the only practical solution that has been identified is for a deep water facility to be created on the eastern side of the Fergusson container terminal in Auckland’s Quay Street. This possible facility, referred to as Eastport, is the only real long term solution.

In the interim, existing leases on Wynyard Point need to be extended to maintain continuity of supply, to give all the parties more time to find a practical and safe site for relocation and for their transition to an alternative, fully functioning facility.

The bulk liquids industry makes a significant contribution to both Auckland’s economy and to employment in the region, when the downstream industries’ added value is taken into account. In our opinion, the provision of an alternative facility for bulk liquids within the region is a critical issue for Auckland.

*Peter Atkinson is an executive officer at the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) Inc

ENDS

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