Let's entertain the idea of moving the entire bulky goods facility of the port - the space-hungry containers, cars and liquids. Taking into account inter-regional considerations, northwards is the best move, as it gives much-needed regional development, especially employment and transportation, to the best deep water port - Whangarei.
Moving the port to Kaipara's South Head is also an option (recognising the need for state-of-the-art coastal engineering and ecological protection).
This isn't the first time moving the port has been proposed. It was mooted in 1949, as part of the government's post-war metropolitan plan, the first time Auckland had been planned comprehensively since 1840. Council and government planners proposed moving the port to Te Atatu peninsula - then a big greenfields site. They even considered the need for dredging and passing under a planned harbour bridge. This visionary plan didn't happen, it was deemed too costly at the time, and doesn't that sound familiar?
Auckland's older and larger sibling, Sydney, moved most of its port. It acted on the change to containerisation, deciding in 1969 to vacate Darling Harbour and move the bulk of the port's operations 12km south to Botany Bay. Opened in 1979, this two-terminal facility has been continually added to, most recently with the reclamation of 63ha to create a third container terminal, completed in 2011.
Yes, Auckland has been a port city from its inception. It was formed in 1871, the same year as the council was established. For many years it was more port than city, and its early social life was around the wharves. It's true that the port continues to be hugely important economically.
But there has been a parting of ways between the port and its city, and it began a long time ago. The two started to diverge at the beginning of the 20th century, when the nature of the port functions changed. With mechanisation came the big cranes and huge storage sheds. We needed longer concrete wharfs able to take more load. There was an increased need for security and unionised labour. The erection of the famous red fence in 1910 effectively split the public from the wharf.
From an Act of Parliament, the port authority could keep on taking more of the foreshore and the seabed. And it did, particularly to the west after World War II, obliterating Freemans Bay.
Globally, shipping is a dynamic business, and in the ongoing drive for efficiency, ships are growing wider and longer.
Auckland's demand for goods is increasing with its population growth. Logically one would predict that the port needs to grow commensurately. In recent years the container cargo has been increasing around 6 per cent a year. Compounded at that rate, container numbers will double within two decades. And while there are probably gains to be made in trying different layouts and turnaround arrangements, if we consider a decent planning period of the next 50 years, it's obvious that in its present location there are limited options for the port to expand substantially.
Now the city is in-filling behind the port, creating a people-friendly central core to Auckland. What started with the Viaduct basin has spread to Britomart and Wynyard Quarter.
The public's hunger for the central waterfront as a destination for activities and events, and corporations' desires to stake claims for their headquarters, appear to be insatiable.
Auckland is on the cusp of serious change. Perhaps this time, we as a population can influence which way it goes.
Garth Falconer is author of Living Paradox and director of Reset Urban Design. His practice has won national awards for the design of Judges Bay and proposing a visionary redevelopment of Hobson Bay.
