Leonard Sampson, chief executive, Port of Tauranga.
As the Port of Tauranga, New Zealand’s biggest port, enters the seventh year of its red tape tussle over critical infrastructure expansion, its chief executive says it’s time the Government’s policy was turned into action.
Leonard Sampson, “enormously frustrated” over the loss of $65 million to $90m in annual freight savings for importers and exporters because the chock-full port is turning away shipping services, says New Zealand urgently needs clarity around regulatory planning regimes, for example.
“There’s an urgent need to convert words into action. I really think there’s broad business community support for the policy and direction. It now needs to be converted to tangible execution.
“I give the example of much-needed investment opportunities or investment structures into the infrastructure pipeline. Fantastic, but there needs to be clarity around the commercial mechanisms in which investors, whether they be New Zealand investors or offshore investors, can invest and achieve commercial returns, and that’s about some of the regulatory frameworks that sit behind those planning regimes.”
In its recent strong FY25 results, New Zealand’s main export gateway said after more than six years in the consenting process for expansion of its container terminal wharf, the situation was reaching crisis point, with new shipping service offers being turned away due to lack of berth space.
“One new service to the Americas, based on the volume we currently move now, represents somewhere between $65m to $90m of ocean freight savings. Those are savings that go back to importers and ultimately are passed to consumers, and savings for exporters that ultimately go back to the regional communities they come from.”
The ongoing consent saga also had a “huge” impact on port productivity.
“We acknowledge that all ports in New Zealand need to lift their productivity, but one of the single biggest ways to do that is by having an appropriate level of infrastructure,” says Sampson. “In our case, that is an appropriate length of berth to be able to cater for services that want to call at the port.”
Even if the port gets the regulatory green light soon, the project will have been 10 years in the planning by the time it’s built. Meanwhile, the cost of the development has doubled to nudge $100m.
“It’s a two-year construction period once we get consent. It’s enormously frustrating and I think it’s probably symptomatic of the whole RMA [Resource Management Act] process. One of the single biggest areas for improvement in this country, I believe, is clarity around regulatory planning regimes and certainty.
“We can’t have legislation that is open to interpretation for years and can be hijacked.”
The latest twist in the resource consent process is a legislative drafting error, which has resulted in the Environment Court putting a hold on the process under the Government’s new fast-track legislation.
Sampson says the error was not the port’s doing.
The port had turned to the new fast-track legislation for assistance after years of applications, hearings and appeals before local authorities and the Environment Court.
The development is being challenged by local hapu.
Meanwhile, Sampson says while export returns have been buoyant on the back of strong commodity prices, the domestic economy and imports consumption have been sluggish and lacklustre.
“It’s been a lot slower than we had anticipated and we’re hoping to see a little bit of a recovery towards the back of this calendar year or early in 2026.”
He expects the 15% tariffs imposed on New Zealand products by the Trump Administration will prompt the port’s export customers to look for greater market diversification. While US demand for some New Zealand products remains strong, he anticipates the increased tariffs will result in greater margin pressure on exporters.
Port of Tauranga is an advertising sponsor of the Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom report.