The government needs to revisit again the integration road, rail, and coastal shipping according to the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation (CBAFF).
CBAFF president Glenn Coldham says that calls by the New Zealand Shipping Federation for the government to stop ignoring shipping infrastructure and recognise it as a strategic national asset highlights a significant issue.
“Coastal shipping should not be ignored, given the high number of international ports we currently have in New Zealand,” says Coldham.
“We need to ensure our infrastructure ensures our import and export cargo has a regular and consistent network to support it, and to keep the New Zealand international supply chain competitive.
“An opportunity exists to rationalise and use such coastal services as feeders for full container load (FCL) exports from potential non-international ports in the future to those ports that service international ships.
“This highlights a need to ensure road, rail and coastal shipping as an integrated supply chain, and to minimise barriers to keeping costs down in the transport network,” says Coldham.
