northland chamber

ADVOCATE COLUMN 1st WEEK FEBRUARY 2012
Last year during the debate regarding the North Auckland rail link and whether it should retained, one of the arguments in support of its retention was the fact that at some stage in the future it may be needed and that the cost of reinstating a “mothballed” line would be prohibitive. Of course it is hard to argue based on what may or may not happen in the future but perhaps the reality is that there is already evidence to support the retention of this strategically important infrastructure based on the current state of New Zealand’s maritime industrial practices.

In recent times the Port of Auckland has been involved in industrial disputes that may of may not have directly resulted in it losing business to Tauranga. At the same time their plans to expand their area of operations has also caused many Aucklanders to ask whether this is the best use for this land. What was particularly interesting about the conversations taking place around the Port of Auckland and their current productivity levels and their planned expansion, was the fact that over a quarter of the containers landed there are trans-shipments. This means that almost 350,000 containers which are unloaded at Auckland never actually leave the port by road.

There is no argument that the Port of Auckland is a substantial contributor to that city’s economy and that it will continue to grow. However many commentators believe that at some stage in the not too distant future neither Auckland nor Tauranga will have sufficient capacity to meet demand. If this is the case then perhaps we really do need to ask whether the locking up a large portion of land in our largest city and severely reducing the recreational facilities for which the city is known is such a good idea given that there is a suitable deep water port with virtually unlimited storage capacity within 200 kilometres.

This goes beyond what is best for an individual region or city. A highly productive deep water port at Whangarei working to its potential capacity, supported by the necessary infrastructure to integrate it with the northern land and marine transport networks is essential to creating a resilient supply chain that New Zealand’s economy needs if it is to be competitive and productive. This is just one example of the role Whangarei can and should play in the wider national economy and also the danger in dismissing the transport link between our two centres as nothing more than a tourism opportunity.