Moving Auckland’s Port to Northport would be
logistically impractical, prohibitively expensive, increase
greenhouse gas emissions and add to traffic congestion
according to a report commissioned by National Road Carriers
Association (NRC).
The report, based on interviews
with trucking companies and stakeholders, concludes Ports of
Auckland should continue in its current location until it
can’t efficiently handle further growth.
With a
focus on road freight, the report concludes the issue was
not port location, but the efficiency and safety of road
(and rail) access to the three existing upper North Island
ports – Auckland, Tauranga and Northport.
NRC chief
executive David Aitken says Auckland road freight operators
interviewed for the report, Moving the Ports of Auckland:
Costs and Challenges for Road Freight, estimated the
proposed replacement of Ports of Auckland with Northport
could provide at least a five-fold increase in business for
them but they are strongly against the idea because it does
not make sense.
See Key Point Summary (and the
full report at https://www.natroad.co.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=2336
), but briefly:
- Ports of Auckland handles about
one third of the nation’s container trade and two million
tonnes of general cargo and 70 per cent by value of this
trade is either for or from Auckland. - Around 340,000
heavy truck trips and 27,000 freight trains would be needed
to carry the containers and goods from Northport to the
proposed inland road-rail port at Swanson in west
Auckland. - Moving Ports of Auckland to Northport
would be extremely energy inefficient:- It would add
more than 125,000 tonnes of CO2 per year for container road
freight. Currently, around 27,000 tonnes of CO2 per year are
emitted transporting containers by road from Ports of
Auckland to South Auckland. - However, as we
eventually move away from fossil fuels to electric or
hydrogen-powered transport we are setting ourselves up to
have to build more expensive power stations (which will also
be hard to consent) – totally not
sustainable.
- It would add
- Heavy truck traffic across
metropolitan Auckland would increase particularly on roads
around the proposed Swanson road-rail inland port and across
the city towards south Auckland where most customers were
located. - With Auckland’s business growth moving
south, and Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty dominating
the Upper North Island’s economic growth, Northport was
too far away.
The most cost and energy efficient
freight is delivered by sea as close as possible to its
market. The annual cost of road and rail freighting goods
160 kilometres between Northport and Auckland would increase
by more than $1 billion.
With the upper North
Island’s three ports (Auckland, Tauranga and Northport)
having limited access and capacity, in a 100-year time frame
a super port on the Firth of Thames (or Manukau) could be
assessed.
The NRC report says a wider study than just
looking at Northport is required to look at long term
business needs, 30, 50 and 100 year trends including
distance from customers, cost and scale. The question of
port location should hinge on the ability to handle growth
and whether the port’s location helps achieve the Upper
North Island’s full economic, social and environmental
potential.
