Peters: Northport is a better option

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said he would also talk to a number of other entities about the bill. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Northland MP Winston Peters will introduce a bill to Parliament seeking to stop Ports of Auckland expanding into Waitemata Harbour, a move he says will leave Northport as "the only cab off the rank" to take Auckland's excess cargo.

Ports of Auckland (POA) has plans for two wharf extensions into Waitemata Harbour, but they caused a furore in Auckland, with public protests and many Auckland City councillors opposing the extension. POA is owned by the Auckland Council.

Mr Peters, the New Zealand First leader, has blasted POA management as short-sighted, saying it's wedded to expanding the port deep into the Waitemata Harbour.

"According to the port's CEO (Tony Gibson), there is going to be some 'paradigm shift' enabling the Ports of Auckland to cope with any and all future freight," says Mr Peters.

"That view is dreamtime. The only way the port will be able to cope into the future is by turning the Waitemata Harbour into a canal and continuously dredging the Rangitoto channel to keep it clear for super-Panamax container ships. That's not a future either Aucklanders or Northlanders wish to see, when New Zealand's best deep water port at Northport is one of our most underutilised.

"This is why New Zealand First will be bringing forward a bill to constrain the Ports of Auckland to its current physical footprint. If the port's short-sighted management cannot see that the future of sea freight in the upper North Island is Northport, then it must be made to see sense."

He told the Northern Advocate that the first time his Waitemata Harbour Protection Bill could be put into the Parliamentary ballot would be April 28 and he believed he would get enough support to get it passed.

"I will be talking to all political parties and individuals that have got the heart of Northland as their first priority to get it passed," he said.

Mr Peters said he would also talk to a number of other entities about the bill - including Northland Regional Council (NRC), Northport and the Northland Chamber of Commerce - about how it could benefit Northland.

He said the NRC - which owns Northport - had designated the land for a rail corridor to Northport at Marsden Pt and getting the rail link built should not be allowed to drag on.

"(Northport) would be the only port in the world that doesn't have a rail link. A rail link is critical to a port and the rail line to Auckland needs to be upgraded for the benefit of the North."

Mr Peters said, if his bill was passed, Northport would be "not the first, the only cab off the rank" to pick up POA's excess cargo, including containers, with the Marsden Pt port having the land available to expand and already investigating putting in a fourth berth.

He said he would be asking questions of KiwiRail as to why it had not upgraded a major infrastructure asset such as the rail line between Auckland and Whangarei.