“The area we are looking to have consented has been in the port development plan since the 1990s. There are containers all stacked up behind the area, but we can’t put them on a ship because there’s no berth,” said Sampson. “It should have been very easy [the consenting] — that’s the bizarre thing.”
He’s hoping the new coalition Government will prioritise infrastructure, develop a pipeline of critical projects and create a regulatory pathway for the projects to be completed in a timely fashion.
“I’m not just talking roads, but rail, ports and coastal shipping. It’s creating a strategic plan and an environment [in which] business can get on and get things done. The port is a crucial infrastructure partner in the supply chain.
“New Zealand trade and exporters, dairy and meat farmers, kiwifruit growers, will pay the price if we don’t develop the port. That’s the challenge,” said Sampson.
Port of Tauranga moves 70 per cent of New Zealand’s dairy exports, 61 per cent of red meat, 85 per cent of kiwifruit and 30 per cent of logs. It handles 42 per cent of the container trade, and all up, nearly $50 billion of the country’s exports goes through the Port of Tauranga, representing 50 per cent of the total by value.
Sampson said: “We have no berth capacity to take more container ships. We are turning away three services a week and they have left the country, providing less shipping options for New Zealand exporters.”
Given the green light for construction, Port of Tauranga is planning to provide 1150m (existing 770m) of container wharf — enough to take three large vessels carrying more than 7000 TEUs, four mid-sized ships of 4000-5000 TEUs or five coastal feeders. The container capacity will double to handling 2.5m TEUs a year.
When the port company applied for consent under the “shovel-ready” legislation in 2020 (it was declined and didn’t require Government funding), the wharf extension would have cost $70m. It is now costed at $100m, and together with automatic stacking cranes and other terminal equipment, the latest development plan will more than double in cost.
Sampson said it would take six to nine months to organise contractors and commence work after receiving a consent. Construction would take two years, meaning the longer container wharf would be in use during the 2026/27 financial year.
“Over the next 12-24 months, business will be challenging because of the economic environment, but beyond that, we see a positive growth trajectory when we build new infrastructure,” he said.
The new Ruakura Inland Port in Hamilton — a joint venture between the port company and Tainui Holdings — will provide significant opportunities with the population growth in the Golden Triangle, said Sampson.
Already, Kmart has moved its national distribution centre there, and alongside it is a new export dairy warehouse.
Kmart would import volumes through Auckland, and the containers would then sit empty.
Now the containers are moved to Hamilton and reloaded with exports through Tauranga. “The importing base is moving south,” said Sampson. “There is a strong case for importers co-locating with exporters, and this can only benefit the national supply chain with a more efficient and integrated network.”
For the year ending June, the Port of Tauranga — the largest in the country — achieved revenue of $420.9m, a 12.2 per cent increase on the previous year, and group net profit declined 5.2 per cent to $117.1m.
Total cargo volumes decreased 3.6 per cent to 24.7m tonnes, and container volumes were down 5.1 per cent to 1.18m TEUs. Exports were 15.7m tonnes, down 1.5 per cent, and imports 9m tonnes, a 7 per cent decrease. Ship visits increased by 4.6 per cent to 1432.
Port of Tauranga said at the time of reporting that it looked forward to the return of productivity and capacity maximisation now that shipping schedule reliability was more consistent.
Total trade dipped 9 per cent to 5.8m tonnes in the first quarter of the 2024 financial year and will be offset by a record number of 112 cruise ship visits this summer. Port of Tauranga has provided full-year earnings guidance of $95m-$107m.
