Shipping is in turmoil and some smaller Kiwi exporters are at risk. But what can we do about problems in New Zealand? ZB's Simon Barnett and James Daniels discuss the issues with John Weekes.
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Container shipping giant Maersk says limited berthing availability and productivity at New Zealand ports is hampering the efficiency of its ocean network.
“One of the key challenges we are facing when focusing on building a resilient ocean network, at the core of New Zealand’s international supply chain, is the limitationof available berthing windows,” said Maersk’s regional head of market for Oceania, My Therese Blank.
A berthing window is the time period allocated to a vessel to berth, carry out cargo operations and undock and sail from the berth. A berthing window will also consider any berth and route preparation time as required.
“This is impacting the efficiency and resilience of our ocean network as we are unable to operate with optimal schedule buffers, as a result of the window availability limitation,” Blank said in response to Herald questions about New Zealand port performance and productivity.
“Due to the lack of window availability, we are restricted in the time slot our vessels can call at a specific terminal, which can result in longer lead times due to suboptimal connection time windows at transhipment hub ports and lower schedule integrity, as we are unable to design the vessel rotation with evenly spread out schedule buffers.”
My Therese Blank, head of market for Maersk Oceania.
However, Blank said terminal operation in New Zealand was recovering after the pandemic, which was positive.
Port labour availability was regarded as the main challenge to ports achieving further productivity improvements, she said.
Maersk’s concern comes as the pressure on ports has eased, with imports reduced due to the economic downturn and primary exports squeezed by weather and market events.
Blank also urged New Zealand to improve connectivity between its ports and inland locations.
“The New Zealand supply chain is complex, with eight main ports [Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Nelson, Wellington, Timaru, Lyttelton, Port Chalmers] and limited landside connectivity to flex cargo in terms of contingency situations,” she said.
“We have seen increased impact from weather events and natural disasters in the past 18-24 months, having a devastating impact on the supply chain. The development of an efficient and resilient inland transport network is key to connect ports with the landside supply chain, as well as enabling alternative transport routes in case of supply chain disruptions.
“We encourage the continued investment in the development of inland hubs and adjacent rail connectivity connecting the ocean port network with the New Zealand landside network, including improved rail connectivity improving efficiency and reducing supply chain emissions.”
Port of Auckland, which has been most in the public firing line over poor productivity and ship delays but has recently lifted its performance, told the Herald it was correct there was pressure on berthing windows.
A statement from the Auckland Council-owned port said this pressure “has been exacerbated by offshore delays such as industrial action, weather, vessel dry-dockings and variable volume”.
But the port, the country’s main gateway for imports, wasn’t sure Maersk’s comments “reflect the views held by all shipping line customers”.
“Over the past five weeks, for example, Port of Auckland [has] met all on-window departures and achieved our highest weekly container volume in over three years. We’ve also removed many of the exchange caps that were put in place during Covid.”
Port of Tauranga is New Zealand’s biggest port and its main export gateway.
Chief executive of the NZX-listed company, Leonard Sampson, told the Herald berthing windows were a function of berth capacity, of which berth length was the most significant factor.
“We are extremely constrained with available berth window time slots in Tauranga - a fact which we have been signalling for over five years while we navigate a frustratingly glacial resource consent process to lengthen the existing container terminal berth.”
Lyttelton Port declined to comment on Maersk’s views.
On the shipping company’s concern about port and inland connectivity, Sampson said the Tauranga port supported Maersk’s view that there needed to be continued investment in landside infrastructure to improve connectivity to ports.
Leonard Sampson, Port of Tauranga chief executive.
“Our investment in the Ruakura inland port is evidence of this, as is our desire to develop Northport once the Marsden rail spur is constructed.”
Port of Auckland agreed there were resilience challenges with New Zealand’s landside connections and “these need to be addressed”.
“However, we’re not expecting to see much further investment in inland freight hubs until the ports are achieving a fair return.”
Andrea Fox joined the Herald as a senior business journalist in 2018 and specialises in writing about the dairy industry, agribusiness, exporting and the logistics sector and supply chains.
