New Zealand’s ports need to work together – and move into coastal shipping

As sup­ply chain pres­sures con­tin­ue to build, a lead­ing New Zea­l­and trans­port uni­on says imme­di­ate action is required.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says the causes have been iden­ti­fied, and now innov­at­ive solu­tions are required for a new era of sup­ply chain con­ges­tion and insec­ur­ity.

Mr Har­ris­on says export cargo needs to be in front of the major ship­ping lines at major ports so there is no require­ment for big ships to trans­it around region­al ports.

“A New Zea­l­and flagged coastal ship­ping ser­vice would have the abil­ity to move the volumes needed around the coun­try in a timely man­ner.”

This would resolve one major con­ges­tion point, he says.

He says for a New Zea­l­and coastal ship­ping oper­a­tion to be effect­ive it needs to be sup­por­ted by New Zea­l­and ports and ensure con­sist­ent berth times and sup­ply of port ser­vices.

Mr Har­ris­on says a con­sor­ti­um of New Zea­l­and ports and freight oper­at­ors could devel­op a joint ven­ture, which answers the needs of all play­ers.

“ There is a pre­ced­ent, as port com­pan­ies around New Zea­l­and have already developed off port con­tain­er stor­age and truck­ing facil­it­ies, have worked with rail devel­op­ing fixed daily ser­vices, and have cre­ated joint ven­tures such as tug oper­a­tions and pro­cure­ment.”

He says KiwiRail could be a pos­sible part­ner with their ship­ping oper­a­tion, and the Gov­ern­ment needed to facil­it­ate and provide dir­ec­tion for the future strategy of ports and the sup­ply chain.