Interisland ferry problems show need for rebuilding coastal shipping

The Mari­time Uni­on says New Zealand’s ship­ping woes have now become worse, with the Inter­is­lander line hav­ing two thirds of its fleet going off line.

Two Cook Strait Inter­is­lander fer­ries are out of action as the Aratere is to under­go dry dock main­ten­ance out of the coun­try and the Kai­arahi has developed mech­an­ic­al issues, which leaves just the third Inter­is­lander ferry Kaitaki in oper­a­tion.

On top of the cur­rent con­ges­tion and ship­ping issues, this situ­ation has cre­ated anoth­er bot­tle­neck in an already stressed sup­ply chain.

Mari­time Uni­on Craig Har­ris­on says the Uni­on has been advoc­at­ing for stronger coastal ship­ping for years for this reas­on.

“If we had a viable coastal fleet with more New Zea­l­and ships, then it would be able to absorb any shocks from a situ­ation with the fer­ries, and deal with the wider reli­ab­il­ity issue with glob­al ship­ping lines miss­ing port calls.”

He says it is urgent that New Zea­l­and rebuild a New Zea­l­and flagged and crewed coastal ship­ping fleet that can provide reli­able and effi­cient ser­vice for region­al ports and inter-island trade.

“New Zea­l­and needs to learn from the very big mis­take it made in allow­ing coastal ship­ping to be run down.”

Mr Har­ris­on says the straight­for­ward solu­tion would be for the Gov­ern­ment to sup­port or under­write an extra ship being brought on by a cur­rent oper­at­or, under a New Zea­l­and flag and with New Zea­l­and crew.

“A nation­al ship­ping line with coastal and region­al ser­vices could be a medi­um term option, along­side private oper­at­ors, as could a nation­ally co-ordin­ated charter ser­vice for inter­na­tion­al ship­ping.”

A law change to give New Zea­l­and coastal ship­ping pri­or­ity over inter­na­tion­al ship­ping car­ry­ing coastal cargo was required to provide a level play­ing field, he says.

Mr Har­ris­on says the glob­al ship­ping sup­ply chain is in chaos and the situ­ation is unlikely to improve for some time, in line with what inter­na­tion­al com­ment­at­ors are pre­dict­ing.

“There needs to be a nation­al freight strategy that brings in ports and coastal ship­ping and sets up a co-ordin­ated plan going for­ward, rather than just leav­ing things to chance.”

Mr Har­ris­on says a nat­ur­al dis­aster or over­seas con­flict could leave New Zea­l­and in a dan­ger­ously vul­ner­able state without the abil­ity to move its own goods on its own ves­sels.

“New Zea­l­and must have a strategy that does not rely on for­eign inter­na­tion­al com­pan­ies to accom­mod­ate New Zealand’s pri­or­it­ies.”