Loss of Takutai Chief undermines New Zealand shipping and supply chain

 
 The loss of a New Zealand oper­at­ed coastal freighter and up to 40 jobs (includ­ing 14 sea­far­ers) due to the eco­nom­ic down­turn threat­ens the via­bil­i­ty and resilience of our sup­ply chain.
  
Swire Ship­ping, the own­ers of Paci­fi­ca Ship­ping, have advised its sec­ond New Zealand coastal freighter Taku­tai Chief will be removed from ser­vice soon after a down­turn in trade.
 
Mr Find­lay says the Union accepts the rea­sons giv­en for the deci­sion, includ­ing cur­rent poor eco­nom­ic con­di­tions and ser­vice changes by inter­na­tion­al lines reduc­ing feed­er vol­umes.
 
“Nonethe­less, this is a major blow to New Zealand ship­ping and our mar­itime work­force, and reduces the resilience and future secu­ri­ty of our sup­ply chain.”
 
Mr Find­lay says Paci­fi­ca has shown an ongo­ing com­mit­ment to New Zealand coastal ship­ping.
 
He says coastal ship­ping offers a low emis­sion trans­port mode, and reduces con­ges­tion and wear on roads.
 
The sit­u­a­tion reflect a larg­er cri­sis with­in the New Zealand mar­itime indus­try where there is a lack of sta­bil­i­ty due to fail­ure in strate­gic pol­i­cy, he says.
 
Mr Find­lay says the depen­dence of New Zealand on over­seas ship­ping was a major prob­lem dur­ing COVID with seri­ous dis­rup­tions when over­seas ship­ping calls were delayed or dropped.
 
He says skilled New Zealand sea­far­ers will leave the indus­try for oppor­tu­ni­ties in Aus­tralia, with an age­ing work­force see­ing a large num­ber of sea­far­ers retir­ing in the near future.
 
Mr Find­lay says the uncer­tain­ty around the future of Inter­is­lander fer­ries is anoth­er aspect of the ongo­ing cri­sis in New Zealand ship­ping.
 
“Despite being a mar­itime trad­ing nation, New Zealand has no clear strat­e­gy for a sus­tain­able ship­ping indus­try, which leaves us exposed and vul­ner­a­ble in a volatile glob­al mar­ket.”
 
“New Zealand needs to build its coastal ship­ping capac­i­ty, with New Zealand owned, oper­at­ed and crewed ships.”
 
Paci­fi­ca Ship­ping is an oper­at­ing divi­sion of Swire Ship­ping (N.Z) Lim­it­ed.