Northport is best suited to continue handling bulk freight only, according to the Upper North Island Strategic Alliance. Photo / File
Issues around conflicting demands for Auckland's waterfront and comments made in the media by Northland MP Winston Peters in regards to the role Northport should play in New Zealand's marine transport network have once again put the spotlight on how sea freight should arrive or leave our shores.
A 2013
report commissioned by the Upper North Island Strategic Alliance - UNISA - entitled How can we meet the increasing demand for ports in the Upper North Island? examined future freight demand and infrastructure demand for the ports of the upper North Island over the next 30 years.
It provides an interesting contextual framework for future discussions as to what opportunities exist for regional ports and also what challenges may first need to be overcome.
Possibly one of the more significant issues arising from the report - at least from a Northland perspective - is the large cost of domestic freight relative to sea freight costs. Often much of the supply chain costs incurred by businesses are incurred domestically rather than sea freight.
The report highlighted that the transport costs from Whangarei to Auckland, and to other parts of the upper North Island, could well be a barrier to developing Northport as a container terminal, unless there was significant investment in other parts of the land transport supply chain.
