Ending operations at the Ports of Auckland and developing Northport is being suggested in a government-commissioned supply chain report.
The recommendation is part of the second Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISC) review into New Zealand’s freight network.
It estimates the cost of moving Auckland’s port operations will be around $10.3 billion.
The working group is chaired by former Far North District Council mayor Wayne Brown and released its first report in April this year.
However, Auckland mayor Phil Goff is critical of the recommendations and says it doesn’t sufficiently consider the costs and benefits.
He says the proposed $10.3bn to move Ports of Auckland is “on that conservative estimate … a huge sum of money with opportunity costs for other investments”.
“Like most Aucklanders I am in favour of moving the port, but we won’t simply give away our assets built up by ratepayers over generations.
“Relocation needs to be stack up economically and protect the interests of Aucklanders. It will also need to be undertaken with industry support and without imposing additional economic and environmental costs on Auckland businesses and consumers from freight being moved over much longer distances,” Goff says.
“While Auckland Council made submissions on the original proposal, we and other stakeholders, including the shipping companies and the ports themselves, have not had further input into this report.
“As the report itself acknowledges, if the shipping companies don’t agree to send freight to Northport, the huge investment in new facilities would be wasted money.”
“Auckland remains ready and willing to cooperate with the government over relocation of the port, but its ultimate agreement to do so will depend on the actual benefits and costs to our city and its people of making that move,” Goff says.
Associate transport minister Shane Jones says the future of New Zealand’s ports, freight services and coastal shipping is “critical to our economy”.
“The work to develop the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy comprises a logistics and freight review, as well as a plan for the long-term future of ports in the Upper North Island.
“Building an effective and sustainable transport system is a priority for the government,” Jones says.
Ports of Auckland chief executive Tony Gibson has previously dismissed the idea of moving the city’s operations to Northport and told the NBR it’s a “no-goer”.
Gibson says the numbers don’t stack up and it should be the customers who decide as “they are the ones who decide where the cars go”.
“If Auckland wasn’t used, then they won’t go to Whangarei; they will go to Tauranga,” Gibson told the NBR.
Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns says the working group’s recommendations were feasible subject to infrastructure development and would address concerns about economic land use in Auckland.
Cairns says more economic analysis is needed as some of the cost, future capacity and cargo forecast figures were at odds with Port of Tauranga’s data.
“We haven’t discussed the assumptions with the consultants and would welcome the opportunity to do so.
“We recently engaged Netherlands-based container terminal experts TBA Group to complete a capacity development review that shows we can accommodate up to 2.8 million TEUs per annum on our current footprint.
“The report points out that Port of Tauranga is among the world’s 10 most efficient ports. Port of Tauranga is New Zealand’s busiest port, with room to grow and the next stage of capacity expansion already under way.
“There is also the opportunity to factor in the current and future freight handling capacity of the inland freight hubs in the Waikato, including the Ruakura Inland Port in Hamilton,” Cairns says.
