The Government wants to double the percentage of domestic freight moved by sea - but has given itself till 2040 to achieve its aim. Transport Minister Annette King last night unveiled Sea Change, a draft strategy aimed at revitalising coastal shipping, which she called the poor cousin of the transport sector.
The amount of domestic freight was forecast to double during the next decade, driving the need for reorganisation, she said. The roading network had a limited capacity to handle that. About 15 per cent of domestic freight is transported by sea. Sea Change wants to double that to 30 per cent by 2040.
To help achieve this, the Government will set up a maritime liaison unit in the Transport Ministry. It will promote awareness of coastal shipping and help domestic coastal shippers and ports apply for government financial assistance.
Ms King said that financial aid could involve grants to establish new shipping services. She already had a Budget bid in, to provide this type of funding for 2008-09. Shippers or ports applying for grants would have to demonstrate the economic viability of their proposal at some point in the future.
The strategy will take effect against a backdrop of large international shipping lines moving to larger container ships, calling at fewer New Zealand ports. "We've got to realise that when the hub-and-spoke strategy of international shippers takes even greater effect then we've got to move freight from the Timarus and the Greymouths and Napier and Gisborne and so on. "We've got to make sure we're utilising those ports to the best of their ability and seeing how they can be integrated into our rail work and our road work. "We're trying to get ahead of decisions that might be made to New Zealand by planning for the future and expanding our coastal shipping capacity."
Shipping Federation president Rod Grout welcomed the draft strategy, saying the 30 per cent target was the biggest boost to New Zealand coastal shipping that he could recall. One of the things the federation had sought was modal neutrality between road, rail and coastal shipping. Increased funding for coastal shipping would help achieve that, he said. Mr Grout, also chief executive of New Zealand's biggest domestic shipping company Pacifica, said as international shipping companies called at fewer ports they would have a choice of using road, rail or coastal shipping to move containers to the larger ports. "If coastal shipping is competitive with road and rail then we'll get a look in," he said. "If we're not, we won't."
