Northport appeals permit decision
NewsNorthport in New Zealand is appealing a decision denying resource consents for its planned expansion to create a larger container terminal and facilities.
Ports of Auckland moving
The coalition agreement between the political parties forming New Zealand’s new government, led by Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister, includes a commitment to study relocating the port of Auckland.
Moving port operations out of Auckland city has long been a goal of Winston Peters, a long-time politician who is now Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, and this was one of his party’s conditions for entering the new coalition deal.
Within the current parliamentary term, the government will set up a “NZ$1B per annum Regional Development (Provincial Growth) Fund” that will support a number of initiatives including “commissioning a feasibility study on the options for moving the Ports of Auckland, including giving Northport serious consideration”.
Northport has a deep harbour, but it is located 140 km north of Auckland (NZ’s major population centre), and further away from the main export producing regions. A new rail line linking Northport and Auckland is estimated to cost NZ$4B alone, nearly four times the value of Ports of Auckland.
Despite the cost, there is a lot of sentiment in New Zealand that moving some or all port operations out of the inner city will, at some point, be both desirable and a necessity. More and more, Aucklanders seem to feel that a port is not the best use of urban waterfront land, and the large number of imported secondhand Japanese cars handled at the port reinforces the image of some port operations as low-value economic activity.
For its part, Northport is open to having an expanded role. “We are a flexible, multipurpose port with the ability to grow, and significant amounts of development land on our boundary. We stand ready to play whatever role we are required to play in the development of both Northland and Auckland,” CEO Jon Moore told WorldCargo News.
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This complete item is approximately 300 words in length, and appeared in the October 2017 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 7. To access this issue download the PDF here.
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