Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Commercial contracts at risk due to port delays say businesses

Bay of Plenty Times
18 May, 2021 10:20 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Containers at the Port of Tauranga. Photo / File

Containers at the Port of Tauranga. Photo / File

By RNZ

Business owners say commercial contracts are being put at risk by delayed goods, the result of an inability to get shipments into Ports of Auckland.

Imported goods are bypassing Auckland and are being rerouted to Tauranga. For Auckland business Eurotech Design that means a five-week delay - something that has been happening for months with no end in sight.

The issue highlights the significant problems - current and future - facing Auckland Ports as the city grows. And it has re-surfaced a report which made big waves, and was then shelved, recommending a move to Northport.

Eurotech Design manager Sophia Bristow said the shipping company her business used was refusing to go to Auckland's port, knowing there were congestion problems. It went to Tauranga then transported goods to Auckland via rail.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It not only affected her business but the businesses it supplied, and their customers too, Bristow said. Things were taking at least a month longer and ended up costing more for everyone, she said.

"End consumers are not quite ready to accept the price increase, or the increase at the amount we've experienced are trying to pass on."

For commercial jobs, delays meant risking contract breaches and put a lot of money on the line, Bristow said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

'It's just a matter of visionary leadership'

The future of the port has been well canvassed. The Government has decided it is not fit-for-purpose long-term and it is trying to decide where to put it.

It has received two reports investigating a solution and is still not close to a decision.

The most recent one, by independent consultant Sapere, was delivered to the Government in July 2020.

It found none of the options had net positive economic impacts - options ranging from expanding Northport and/or Tauranga to building completely new ports in Manukau or the Firth of Thames. No advice has been provided to the minister of transport on the Sapere report.

A third study has now been commissioned - a nationwide study into freight. That was expected to take another 12 to 18 months to produce.

Former six-term Waitākere mayor Sir Bob Harvey said someone needed to make a strong decision rather than letting it wither.

"It's just a matter of visionary leadership. That's what I think may be missing in this conversation," Sir Bob said.

Auckland would take a leap forward if the port's 77 hectares - among the most valuable land in the city - were opened up to development and residents, he said.

"I'm sympathetic to the ports, and we've got to be careful and treat them with a bit of kindness. But I think they know - and we know - they will move and they should move. We've got to do that well, with integrity and with Auckland's trust."

Former Far North mayor Wayne Brown - a major advocate for moving the port to Northland - led a study for the Government which ended up recommending that option.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It was clearly the best of the bunch, he said.

It would reduce congestion and emissions by using rail, freeing up the Harbour Bridge; the port land would be returned for Aucklanders' use; and Northport could handle the upgrade with a deep-water inlet, he said.

Kicking the can down the road could not continue, he said.

"A lot of politicians would like to have this idea that it's 30 years away so they don't have to do anything. It isn't. It's eight years away before it's completely useless, this [Auckland] port, and it's already failing."

There were a lot better things we could do than have used cars and empty containers taking up the city's most expensive land, which would take some political courage, he said.

"We've got to stop being incrementalists. We don't have a port strategy in a maritime nation. It's just crazy. It's unjustifiable. And if the port wasn't in Auckland you could never come up with a case to put it there."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Rotorua Daily Post

'Extremely rare move' – consultant has developer put into receivership

Premium
OpinionMark Lister

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

Premium
Opinion

Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Premium
'Extremely rare move' – consultant has developer put into receivership
Rotorua Daily Post

'Extremely rare move' – consultant has developer put into receivership

Developer Marcus Jacobson denies he owes debt and described receivership as a 'stunt'.

13 Jul 11:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored
OpinionMark Lister

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you
Opinion

Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

06 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP